Peasant life in the Holy Land

*

J

PEASANT LIFE IN THE HOLY LAND

PEASANT LIFE IN THE
HOLY LAND

BY THE REV. C. T. WILSON

M.A. Oxon., F.R.G.S., F.S.A.

Vicar of Totland Bay, I.W.
Formerly of the Church Missionary Society, Uganda and Palestine

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

NEW YORK
E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY

1906

Printed in Great Britain

PREFACE

During the last forty or fifty years a Hood of light
has been thrown on the ancient history of Egypt,
Babylonia, Syria, and the other lands so intimately
associated with Palestine, as well as on that of the
Holy Land itself, thereby illustrating and con-
firming the Scripture narrative. Towns and cities
buried for thousands of years have been compelled
to yield up their secrets to the spade of the explorer ;
the story of forgotten tribes and nations has been
discovered : ancient languages have been re-learnt,
and their records and literature, personal corre-
spondence and private accounts, have been made
accessible to the ordinary reader.

In another field of research, that of the manners
and customs, language and folk-lore, of these
Eastern lands, much has also been accomplished,
but in both much yet remains to be done. The

V

255143

vi PREFACE

present work is a small contribution towards a
fuller knowledge of the latter field.

The circumstance of a long sojourn in the Holy
Land has given the author a somewhat intimate
acquaintance with its inhabitants. The knowledge
thus acquired he feels he ought not to keep to
himself, especially as, unlike most of the records
revealed by pick and spade, no inconsiderable
portion is in danger of being lost through the
changes which time is bringing on the land.

C. T. W.

Totland Bay, I.W.,

January 23, 1906.

CON T E N T S

pai ; ^.

INTRODUCTION ------ 1

CHAPTER I

RELIGION - - - - - - - 10

CHAPTER II

religion (continued) - - - ■ - 35

CHAPTER III

VILLAGE LIFE - - - - - - 57

CHAPTER IV

DOMESTIC LIFE - - - - - - 89

CHAPTER V

domestic LIFE (continued) - - - 107

CHAPTER VI
domestic life (continued) - - - - 117

CHAPTER VII

domestic life (continued) - - - - 132

vii

viii CONTENTS

CHAPTER VIII

DOMESTIC LIFE {continued) - - - - - 147

CHAPTER IX

SHEPHERDS, HERDSMEN, ETC. - - - - 161

CHAPTER X

AGRICULTURE - - - - - - 188

CHAPTER XI
agriculture (continued) ----- 205

CHAPTER XII
agriculture (continued) - 226

CHAPTER XIII
minor industries ------ 242

CHAPTER XIV
miscellaneous ------ 262

CHAPTER XV

miscellaneous (continued)- - 283

CHAPTER XVI

PROVERBS --.-... 302

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

nazareth ..... Frontispiece
es salt ------ To face page 6

CARMEL (SCENE OF ELIJAH'S SACRIFICE) - „ 22

A FELLAH ----- „ 26

SACRED OAK NEAR TIBNEH (JOSHUA'S BURIAL-
PLACE) ..... }) 26

AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS ROUND A WELY - „ 27

COURTYARD OF VILLAGE MOSQUE - - „ 27

A VILLAGE EAST OF THE JORDAN - „ 28

KANATlR- ----- „ 28

SACRED TREE - - - - „ 34

GREEK CONVENT OF MAR GIR1US IN WADY KELT „ 40

AN ALlYEH ----- „ 61

SHEPHERD AND SHEEP - - - - ,, 70

ROMAN BRIDGE OVER THE JORDAN - - „ 70

PARAPET OF "TILING" - - - - „ 72

A SHOP IN MOAB ... ,,72

CHRISTIAN VILLAGE SCHOOL - - - „ 98

WOMEN SIFTING CORN - - - - ,,118

WOMEN GRINDING - - - - ,,118

FLOCK RESTING AT NOON - - ,, 128

WOMEN GOING TO DRAW WATER - ,,128

TIBERIAS- --"--,, 152

SHEPHERD AND SHEEP - - - - ,,162

PEASANT WOMAN, SHOWING HEAD-DRESS - „ 162

OAK GROVE, JEBEL AJLON - - „ 174

PREPARING FIREWOOD FOR MARKET - ,,184

ix

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

CAMELS CARRYING stone - - - To face page 184

HILLSIDE CLOSE TO JERUSALEM, SHOWING ROCKY

NATURE OF GROUND
A FELLAH -

A SOWER -

THRESHING CORN
PLOUGHING -

SCENE OF JONATHAN'S EXPLOIT NEAR MICHMASH
BETHANY .....

SAKlYEH ------

BEATING OLIVES -----

AN OLIVE GROVE

FISHERMAN .....

AN " UPPER ROOM," OLIVES DRYING ON ROOF
RUINED TEMPLE NEAR TOBAZ (THE ANCIENT

THEBEZ) -----

WEAVING HAIRCLOTH FOR TENTS

WEAVING -

A WATER-MILL, JEBEL AJL<>N -

KISSING THE HAND ... -

GREAT MOSQUE IN DAMASCUS (INTERIOR)

KHAN IN THE LEBANON -

COFFEE-MAKING -----

PEASANTS OF THE JEBEL AJLtJN

IN THE HILL COUNTRY - - - -

" RUJM

192
197

197
198
198
200
210
220
220
226
252
252

258
258
260
260
272
272
278
280
280
285
285

PEASANT LIFE IN THE HOLY
LAND

INTRODUCTION

An apology is needed for adding another to the
long list of books on the Holy Land. My excuse
is that the volume deals with the people rather
than with the land, and that, too, from ivithin.
Many years' residence and work in Palestine have
given me exceptional opportunities of seeing the
inner life of the present inhabitants of the Holy
Land, more especially that of the Fellahin, of
whom this work treats. I have been brought into
closest contact with many of them, both Christian
and Moslem, staying in their houses, joining them
at their meals, travelling long journeys with them,
seeking to enter into, and sympathize with, their
joys and sorrows in all the vicissitudes of human
life, and often, for days at a time, hearing and
speaking nothing but their language. I have in
many cases gained their confidence, I believe, and
at the same time, while not forgetful of their short-
comings, I have learnt to appreciate their good
qualities and to esteem some of them very highly.
It is a remarkable fact that nearly all the works

Si INTRODUCTION

dealing with the Holy Land and the manners and
customs of its people have been written, not by
residents, but by travellers. There are undoubted
advantages in this fact, but there are also grave
disadvantages.

To the new-comer from the West, who obtains
his first glimpse of Eastern life as he sets foot on
the shores of Palestine, all he sees and hears comes
with startling novelty. Every turn of the road or
street, each group by the wayside, the long lines of
camels winding down the valleys, the picturesque
crowds of an Eastern market, the varied incidents
of peasant life, all present brilliant pictures to eye
and mind with a vividness and freshness which are
apt to be much dimmed by long residence among
these scenes and intimate familiarity with them.

But if we seek to get below the surface and to
go more thoroughly into the habits and customs of
the people, and to understand their thoughts and
characters, much more is needed than even the
most protracted journey through the country can
afford.

Everything connected with that land which was
the cradle of our holy religion or which throws
light on the manners and customs which obtained
there in olden days is of value.

To the Fellahin (or peasants) of Palestine it is
to whom we must chiefly go to-day to elucidate
those manners and customs, and not to the Jews.
The latter are, for the most part, strangers in their
own land, immigrants from Europe or other conti-
nents, who bring with them the tongue, garb, and

ORIGIN 3

ideas of the countries where they have been so long
domiciled.

The Fellahin, on the contrary, are probably
to a large extent the descendants of the various
Gentile tribes, who were never exterminated by
the Israelites, but became a race of serfs, herding
the cattle and tilling the land of their Hebrew
conquerors.

Professor Sayce has shown that where a people
has been wholly or chiefly commercial, they have
been for the most part absorbed into, or dis-
possessed by, a conquering race, but that where
they have been agricultural or pastoral the wave
of conquest has passed over them, leaving them
comparatively unchanged.

This has been the case in Palestine. Hebrew
and Egyptian, Chaldean and Greek, Roman and
Arab, have conquered the land ; but the peasant
descendants of the pagan tribes which dwelt there
at the dawn of history have clung to the soil
through all these changes. Bending to the storm,
they were lost sight of for awhile, but reappeared
as the country settled down after each invasion.
Colonel Conder, writing (' Palestine,' p. 63) on
this subject, says : ' The Fellahin have been called
" modern Canaanites," and if by this is meant de-
scendants of the Semitic race which the Egyptians
found in Palestine before the time of the Hebrew
conquest, the term seems justified by what is
known.'

The language spoken by the Fellahin to-day is
a Semitic tongue, viz., Arabic, closely related, not

1—2

4 INTRODUCTION

only to Hebrew, Syriac, and Chaldee, but also to
Assyrian, whicli latter the discoveries at Tel
Amarna show to have been the literary tongue of
the days of A braham and the early patriarchs.

Such being the case, it will be readily seen that
a knowledge of the manners, customs, and dialects
of the Fellahin of Palestine is likely to throw much
light on those of the inhabitants of that land in
Bible times, as well as on the scenes depicted and
the histories narrated in the Sacred Volume.

It is of great importance, too, that the manners
and customs now obtaining should be carefully
studied and noted, as there is much danger that
many of these will in a short time be lost.

We are accustomed to speak of the East as
' unchanging '; and when compared with Europe
and America it is no doubt correct. Still, even so,
this epithet is only relatively, and not absolutely
true. In bygone times various things have been
introduced from Europe and other lands, and
become naturalized, and the same process is going
on now. New ideas are in some cases readily
adopted. Thus, when the railway between Jaffa
and Jerusalem was built, it was a surprise to many
that the people so quickly adopted it as a means
of travel. The same remark applies with equal
force to the postal system, telegraph, machinery,
as well as to smaller articles of Western origin and
manufacture.

Again, as a result of the modern civil code
introduced into Turkey, chiefly through the in-
fluence of the late Midhat Pasha, agricultural land

INNOVATIONS 5

has largely passed from the communal ownership
of villages into that of individuals.

Material for clothing is being more and more
imported from Europe, with the result that the
native weavers cannot compete. As a consequence,
the native industry is dying out. Thus, in a village
I know, where a few years ago forty looms were in
full work, only six are now to be found.

The ever-growing poverty of the people, due
for the most part to the increasing burden of
direct taxation, is making it less and less possible
for them to live from the land. This tends to
drive many, especially of the poorer or less thrifty
of the peasants, to the towns to seek for work. It
has led also to a great increase of late years in the
amount of emigration, particularly from certain
localities.

A great deal of variety still exists in the local
dialects. This is due, doubtless, to the isolation
of the different districts in times past ; this, again,
being the result of the difficulties and dangers of
travelling. Fifty years ago a journey from Jeru-
salem to Es Salt (the ancient Ramoth Gilead),
east of the Jordan, would have been considered a
more serious undertaking than a voyage to America
would be nowadays. The inevitable result was
that there was hardly any intercourse between
different districts, with the natural consequence of
considerable variation in the words and phrases in
common use in the several places.

An incident related to me when I had but
recently come to Jerusalem (by way of encouraging

6 INTRODUCTION

me in my study of the language !) will illustrate
this. A man from Es Salt and another from Gaza
had been spending the evening together at the
house of a mutual friend. The man from Es Salt
told a story which the other could not understand,
until the host, who was acquainted with both parts
of the country, explained it to him in his local
phraseology !

This was probably an exaggeration. Still, the
fact remains that the words in ordinary use in
various parts of the country differ very consider-
ably, though the greater facilities for travel of late
years will tend to approximate the different dialects
to each other more and more. Education, too,
which, as will be seen further on, is making rapid
advances, is having the same effect.

Local distinctions, words, customs, etc., are
often strongly marked. It is not easy to say how
they have arisen, but one possible explanation is,
that the inhabitants of the various groups of villages
where such customs, etc., obtain are descendants
from different ancient tribes.

The variations in feature which can be noticed
in different districts, and which are often sufficiently
marked to enable a person conversant with the
country to tell fairly accurately from whence a
stranger hails, would seem to point in the same
direction.

The small area in which peculiar customs occur,
and the comparative isolation of these areas which
still prevails, make it often extremely difficult to
ascertain local customs and usages. Many of these

LOCAL CHARACTERISTICS 7

can only be discovered accidentally or by long
residence in the particular locality. The people of
neighbouring villages may be quite unaware of the
existence of a certain custom, while only a few
miles away it may be very familiar.

I have known intelligent, educated natives to be
entirely ignorant of certain customs, and even to
deny their existence, because they were not in
vogue in their own particular district, whereas
further inquiry or fuller acquaintance with other
parts revealed the fact that they were perfectly
familiar to others.

That being so, the fact that such-and-such a
custom, or rule, or community, is unknown in the
country generally is no proof whatever that it
does not exist at all, as it may be confined to a
small out-of-the-way group of villages, or to only
one or two places. For instance, probably not one
European resident in Palestine out of a hundred has
ever even heard of the Baraghafeh (Chapter III.).
It was many years before I knew of their existence,
spite of the fact that they were in the district in
which I was living and working.

Another difficulty in ascertaining accurately such
manners and customs as are at all peculiar to the
Fellahm is that they are very sensitive about them,
and are sometimes very uncommunicative on the
subject. To a stranger, moreover, they are apt to
repudiate customs of which they are at all ashamed,
or which they consider to reflect on themselves in
any way. Nor must the inquirer ever ask a leading
question, or one which would at all show what

8 INTRODUCTION

reply he expects. The Oriental always likes to
give a 'pleasant answer,' i.e., one which will
coincide with the preconceived ideas of his in-
terrogator. It is also useless to apply to the
townsman for information about the Fellahin, as
he really knows very little of their manners and
customs. There is no distinction of classes, as in
England, but there is a very real one between the
Medaniin, or townsmen, and the Fellahin. or
peasants.

Palestine is a land where the old order of things
and the new meet together. The modern steam-
ship frequents its harbours and roadsteads, the
whistle of the locomotive wakes the echoes of
some of its valleys, and the telegraph-wires stretch
from town to town and bring the latest news of
Europe and America to its cities hour by hour.
Yet in its distant hamlets, secluded gorges, and
barren wilderness, life is much what it was when
Jacob fed his flocks on these same hills, or Ruth
gleaned in the fields of Bethlehem.

A few years ago I went one morning to the
railway- station at Jerusalem to bid farewell to
some English friends. Three hours later I had
stepped back fifty centuries, and was sitting in a
Bedouy tent in the wilderness of Judea, welcomed
by a sheikh clad, probably, much as Abraham was
in those far-off days, surrounded by the sons of
Ishmael, differing little in their appearance from
their wild nomad ancestor, and conversing with
them in a tongue which, though not identical with,
is yet closely related to, that which the Father of

OBJECT OF THE BOOK 9

the Faithful spoke, and in which he communed
with God on these same hills.

Whether or not the changes now taking place in
Palestine are destined to be permanent time alone
will show.

The following pages are an attempt to record
some of the customs and manners of the Fellahin
as they obtain in the Holy Land at the present
day, in the hope that they may thus be rescued
from oblivion, and thereby fuller light be thrown
on the Word of God, and also that Western
Christians may be led to take a deeper and more
sympathetic interest in the present inhabitants of
that land where was lived

' that sinless Life,
That breathed beneath the Syrian blue. 1

CHAPTER I

RELIGION

The Syrian peasantry are a particularly religious
race. Religious topics form a frequent subject of
conversation, and they will discuss abstruse theo-
logical questions, such as predestination, by the
hour. But as one gets to know them better this
religiousness, which at first greatly surprises a
Western, proves in most cases to be very super-
ficial. Such as it is, however, it enters largely into
their everyday life and language.

Everything that happens to them, good or ill,
is directly from God's hand. After telling one of
some misfortune which has befallen them, they
will conclude with the words ' EL hamdu I Hah,
el hamdu Tllah' (Praise be to God, praise be to
God). In all their troubles or misfortunes there
is little or no looking at second causes. Even in
cases where the trouble or misfortune is manifestly
the result of their or someone else's carelessness,
or where an illness has been brought on by their
own sin or foolishness, it is invariably attributed to
the will of God.

The name of the Almighty is continually

RELIGIOUSNESS 11

brought into their conversation. If on meeting a
man one inquires after his health, the answer will
almost always be, ' El hamdu Fllah,' or, ' Ashkur er
Rub ' (Praise God, or, I thank the Lord). Or if
one asks another, ' Do you think it will rain
to-day V ' In shallah ' (If God wills), he will reply,
or, • Allah yalam ' (God knows) ; or should the rain
be much needed, a frequent answer will be, ' Allan
karim ' (God is generous). The beggar as he holds
out his hand for alms whines, ' Allah yuatik' (May
God give you) — i.e., in return for what you are
about to give me — or, ' Hassaneh Tllali ' (An alms
for God) ; and on receiving anything expresses his
thanks by • Keththir kheirak' (May He— God-
increase or multiply your goods), or by ' Yutoivwil
unirak' (May He prolong your life), and similar
phrases. Two friends have met on the road. On
parting one will say, 'Allah ymahhil 'alek' (May
God make your road smooth for you), and the
other will respond with the words, * W Allah
yahfthak ' (And may God preserve you) ; and so
on through every matter of daily life. /

It will readily be seen that this frequent use of
the Divine name too often degenerates into a mere
form. Once when on a long journey a horse in my
caravan cast a shoe, and on arriving at the next
halting-place a farrier was sent for to replace it.
He was a Moslem, and at every nail he drove into
the hoof he uttered the formula, ' Attakil 'aP Allah '
(I trust in God), and could not see, when remon-
strated with, that there was any irreverence in the
constant repetition of these words. Whatever the

IS RELIGION

original idea underlying the use of such expres-
sions, the practical result is too often the greatest
profanity. Thus, one of the very commonest forms
of the simple expression ■ Yes ' is really an oath
by the name of God, and the way in which the
Mohammedans will use that holy name when
trying to make a person believe a palpable lie
makes one shudder.

The great majority of the Fellahin are by
religion Moslems, or, as they are more commonly
called in Europe, Mohammedans. The Moslem
(more accurately, Muslim) is one who is surrendered
to God, and his religion he calls * Islam,' or ' Sur-
render.'* The Koran (literally, ■ Reading ') is his
sacred book, and the chief, though not the only,
source of his religion. This book is largely derived
from the Old and New Testaments, which in
theory all Moslems acknowledge. They also admit
our Blessed Lord to be a Prophet, in some respects
putting Him above Mohammed ; and have the
greatest respect for Abraham, Moses, David,
Solomon, and many of the Old Testament saints ;
but they deny Christ's Divinity and reject His
Atonement.

* It is not possible to give within the limits of a work of
this kind anything like a succinct account of Mohammedanism,
nor, indeed, does it lie within its scope to do so. The student
who may wish to pursue the subject further will find full
information in such books as the following : ' Mahomet and
Islam,' Sir W. Muir (R.T.S.) ; 'Koran; Sir W. Muir
(S.P.C.K.); 'The Dictionary of Islam/ T. P. Hughes;
' Religion of the Crescent, 1 St. Clare Tisdall ; ' Cradle of
Islam,' Zwiemer.

LOW IDEA OF GOD 18

There are, as every student of Islam knows,
numerous sects in that religion,* many of these
being bitterly hostile to each other. In Palestine
the Moslems are chiefly Sunnis, or orthodox
Mohammedans, and belong for the most part, I
believe, to the Hanifites, followers of Abu Hani-
fah, one of their four recognised divisions. In the
northern districts, however, there are a good many
Met'awali,f and here and there communities of a
remarkable sect known as the Shazeliyeh or Shada-
liyeh. The Mohammedan peasantry have but a
superficial acquaintance, for the most part, with
their own religion.

Their idea of God is a terribly low one, so much
so that I doubt if it comes up to that of many
heathen. Many a time as I talked with them have
the words of the Prayer-Book version of Ps. 1. 21
come to my mind : ' Thou thoughtest wickedly
that I am even such a one as thyself.' Their idea
of Him is too often that of a weakly indulgent
Being who is to be cheated or coaxed into letting

* A recent Persian writer (a Mohammedan) states that
there are seventy principal Moslem sects, each of which has
several subdivisions.

f The Mefawali are followers of \A.li, the son-in-law of
Mohammed. While accepting the Koran as Divine, they do
not acknowledge Mohammed as the Prophet or Apostle of
God, but accord that honour to "AH, who was the fourth
Khalifa or Imam. They hold that God intended to give
His revelation to him, but that the angel Gabriel, who was
entrusted with the mission, by mistake gave the Koran to
Mohammed instead of to "AH.

U RELIGION

them into heaven on the Day of Judgment. ' Oh,
I know about Saidna Isa ' (the Moslem name for
our Blessed Lord), said a peasant woman to a
lady who was speaking about Him to a group of
Mohammedan women ; ' He will tell lies for us on
the Day of Judgment.'

It is a remarkable fact that among Moslems
there is no clerical order and no priesthood of any
kind whatever. In most villages there is, however,
a man called a Khatib, or ' Exhorter,' as the word
might be rendered. His duties are to act as
Imam — i.e., to lead the prayers in the mosque on
Friday (the day on which public worship is cele-
brated) and on other special occasions ; to wash
and prepare for the grave the bodies of all men
and boys ; while, at weddings, before him takes
place the formal agreement between the bride-
groom and the father of the bride, which consti-
tutes the actual marriage ceremony. In the villages
of Palestine the Khatib is often the schoolmaster,
and also acts as spy for the Government. As a
class these men are ignorant and bigoted, but I
have known many good and honourable excep-
tions.

Till recently every Khatib received half a bushel
of wheat yearly at harvest-time from each family
in the village, but if unpopular he could not always
obtain his due. A story is told of how the peasants
of a certain village, who would not give their Khatib
his allowance of corn, were outwitted by him. He
went round the threshing-floors from one man to
another, but each put him off with some excuse,

A CRAFTY KHATlB 15

and he returned empty-handed. The next Friday,
when the hour arrived at which lie should have
been at his place in the mosque as Imam, he was
not there. The people waited, but he did not come.
Some of the leading men went to his house to
inquire the cause of his absence.

' I am not going to prayer,' was his reply. ' You
do not say your prayers properly. You talk, and
some rise up before I do.'

' Oh no ! we will go through all the forms in due
order, if only you will come.'

' I will consent to come and act as Imam if you
will put a solemn curse on everyone who does not
say his prayers properly or who rises from the
prostrations before I do.'

To this the elders agreed, and the Khatib accom-
panied them to the mosque, where an announce-
ment to this effect was made. The prescribed
forms were then duly gone through to the closing
prostrations. The Imam bowed himself to the
earth, and all the people followed his example.
But when the words had been repeated he remained
with his face to the ground. All waited in silence,
but the Khatib did not move. No one dared to
rise, from fear of the curse. At last the people
began to complain, and angry voices rose from the
prostrate crowd. Then the Khatib spoke :

' You would not give me my corn when I asked
it yesterday, and I shall not rise till every man of
you has paid me his dues in full.'

On hearing this a babel of shouts arose from the
mosque, the men calling to their wives and children

16 RELIGION

to bring the corn. The crafty Imam bade one of
his sons see that each man's quota of com was
forthcoming in full measure. Not till this was
done, and the floor of the mosque heaped high
with wheat, were the unfortunate men allowed to
rise.

Besides the Khatib, there will sometimes be an
'A Urn, or ' learned ' man, in the village. These
TJlcma are so called from the fact of their having
studied in the great Mohammedan University of
El Azhar, in Cairo, and are much looked up to by
the people.

In addition to the Khutabeh and Ulema just
mentioned, many Dervishes (or Derwishes) are
found. They may be compared with the begging
friars of the Middle Ages, except, of course, that
the Dervishes are not celibates. They are generally
distinguished by their long, loose robes and tall
hats of various shapes and colours, as black, green,
or drab, with or without turbans. They call them-
selves ' Dervishes ' or ' Poor Dervishes,' or simply
1 Poor ' (Fakir), synonymous terms, for Dervish is
a Persian word derived from the term JDcr, which
in that language means a gate or door, and implies
one who wanders from door to door begging.
This designation is used by the Dervishes them-
selves to show their dependence on the goodness
of God and that they seek His bounty only. It is
in this sense that the term ' Poor ' (Fakir) must
be understood, and not as indicating their actual
poverty.

They are divided into two main classes, known

DERVISHES IT

as ' Regular ' and ' Irregular ' — in other words,
those who have rules, or 'paths,' as they are
termed, and those who have none. The ' Regular
Dervishes ' are also designated * Travellers ' — i.e.,
those who are travelling along the road to heaven,
this being the idea in which originated the name
of paths, by which their rules, rites, and ceremonies
are known. The ' Irregular Dervishes ' are of two
classes, one known as Azadiyeh, a term derived
from the Persian word Azad (Free), while the
others style themselves Mqjathib, or ' Tradi-
tionaries,' because they profess to have received the
special regulations or tenets of their orders by
unbroken tradition, from the first Khalifah, or
* Successor ' of Mohammed, Abu Bekr, and the
Imam 'Ali, Mohammed's son-in-law.

When a man wishes to join any of these Orders,
certain ceremonies take place, which are, usually,
as follows. The postulant goes to the head of the
particular Order into which he wishes to gain
admittance, and says : ' Oh, So-and-so ! I wish to
repent to God by your hand, and to enter into
covenant with you.' The terms on which the new
member is to be admitted are then discussed.
When these are satisfactorily arranged, the novice
is solemnly bathed by the Superior. This ceremony
over, the Superior usually spits in the other's mouth,
it being supposed that he thus imparts his spirit
to him. He is next formally invested with the
Zi, or special headdress of the Order, and thence-
forth is reckoned a full member of the Dervish

body.

2

18 RELIGION

It is impossible to state with any precision the
number, varieties, and regulations of the different
Dervish bodies, partly because they are very
numerous, and partly because some at least are
esoteric, and do not divulge their peculiar tenets,
rules, and rites, to any but those within the circle
of the Order.

There are thirty-two recognised bodies of Regular
and Irregular Dervishes, called for the most part
after the names of their founders, and originating
in various places and at different times, from
149 a.h. to 1164 a.h. — i.e., from about the end of
the eighth century a.d. to about the middle of the
eighteenth.

All these men are regarded by the Moslems
with the greatest veneration, and are considered
specially holy, even though, as is sometimes the
case, their characters are known to be of the vilest.
On the other hand they are popularly considered
to be extremely avaricious. One of the peasant
proverbs runs : * Quicker than the lightning's flash,
like a Dervish at sight of gain.'

They are credited with the possession of special
power in writing effective charms, and many of
them trade on this, and on their reputed sanctity,
sometimes becoming quite rich. Our Lord's in-
junction to the Twelve Apostles, ' Provide neither
gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses ' (St. Matt,
x. 9), was, in my opinion, directed against some
such abuse of the miraculous power He had
bestowed upon them, and not intended, as is
commonly held, to forbid them to take any money

THE SHAZELIYEH 19

with them.* In short, He prohibited them from
trading on the possession of these gifts, and from
using them for their personal enrichment, instead
of as proofs of their Divine commission.

In connection with this subject, it may be in-
teresting to note that there is at the present time
a very remarkable illustration of the missions of
the Twelve, and the Seventy, in the case of the
Mohammedan sect of the Shazeliyeh mentioned
above. This sect has in recent years had a fresh
impetus given to it by a remarkable woman in
Southern Syria, who is considered a kind of
prophetess among her adherents. She sends her
disciples out for weeks at a time, to go about the
country and preach the peculiar tenets of the sect.
They are at home for the greater part of the
year following their occupations of agriculturists,
carpenters, weavers, etc., and for the remainder
they go about from village to village, receiving no
remuneration for the work, but subsisting on the
hospitality of the peasantry, and teaching as oppor-
tunity offers.

But even on the ordinary acceptation of our
Lord's command above mentioned, it would be a
very different thing to the Apostles to what it
would be to one in our present conditions of life
and society, or to a Western going to the Orient.
There is to-day very little cash in circulation in
Palestine, and the same probably held good of our

* A comparison of the few passages in the New Testament
where the word Krao/j.ac occurs shows that it always has the
meaning of ' acquire , or ' obtain. 1

2—2

20 RELIGION

Lord's time. This is due to a variety of causes :
it is owing partly to the custom, which obtains
largely in the East, of hoarding coin ; and partly
to the fact that comparatively little money is
coined. The want of it is, moreover, not felt
nearly so keenly as it would be in Europe. A
man may have vineyards and oliveyards, goats and
sheep, several yoke of oxen, a good stock of wheat,
oil, and dried figs, all he needs, in fact, for his daily
wants, and withal have little or no ready money.
Thus, for one to say, as St. Peter did to the lame
man at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, ' Silver
and gold have I none ' (Acts iii. 6), would not
necessarily imply abject poverty. It would also
be in fullest accord, at the present time, with the
condition of one such as the same Apostle, to have
no ready money, either with him or in his house,
with which to pay the Temple tax of the half-
shekel (St. Matt. xvii. 24-27). To-day numbers of
people in Palestine go long journeys with little or
no money, and find hardly any difficulty, and see
no hardship in so doing.

Not long ago I was travelling east of the Jordan,
and on arriving at the bridge over that river, below
Jericho, found it blocked by a large caravan from
Moab, on its way to Jerusalem ; the reason of the
delay being that the owners of the caravan could
not muster enough money among them to pay the
small tax for crossing the bridge, and finally had
to leave some articles in pledge with the custodian,
to be redeemed on their return after the sale oi
their merchandise in the Holy City.

MOSQUES 21

The village mosques, or Mohammedan places of
worship, are for the most part miserable buildings,
dark and dirty, with nothing whatever in their
outward appearance to show that they are sacred
edifices. They are absolutely devoid of furniture,
unless this name can be applied to a few straw
mats rolled up and put away in a corner till
required. They may have a Mihrdb, or small
apse-like niche, indicating the Kibleh, or direction
of Mecca, towards which all Mohammedans turn
their faces at prayer ; but this is infrequent.
Occasionally in the larger villages a more preten-
tious building may be seen, and one kept in better
order, with now and then a Mcdaneh, the well-
known chimney - like tower from which the
Muezzin calls to prayer five times a day.* Some
of these mosques (and many of those in the towns)
have been Christian churches in bygone years.
Usually the mosque, whether large or small, has a
courtyard, shaded by one or more spreading trees,
and in this courtyard during the greater part of
the year the Moslems say their prayers, the village
school is held, and the elders of the hamlet receive
their guests ; for the same building is very often
both guest-house and mosque in one, and the guests
eat and sleep in it or in the courtyard outside,
according to the season of the year.

It has often been remarked that Islam is a creed

* The Arabic term ' Minaret, -1 which has practically become
an English word, and is always used to designate these towers
or steeples, is, as thus employed, quite incorrect, its real
meaning being a ' lighthouse.* 1

22 RELIGION

without a sacrifice for sin. As far as Mohammedan
theology is concerned, this is, I believe, correct.
In Palestine, however, the yearly sacrifice of the
DthaMyeh, which is offered at the same time as the
Hajj (pilgrims to Mecca) are slaying the victims
at Mount 'Arafat, is regarded by the Moslem
peasants as a Kifdrah — that is, a satisfaction for
their sins. In some villages, moreover, they put
the blood of this sacrifice on the doorposts and
upper lintels of their houses. In one village near
Jerusalem I have seen many houses with the blood
thus sprinkled on the doorposts, while some had
in addition two of the victim's feet stuck in a hole
in the door, these being left the whole year till the
next feast comes round.

In two or three mixed hamlets (Moslems and
Christians) with which I am acquainted, the Chris-
tians, either just before Lent or at Easter, kill a
goat or sheep, and put the blood on the upper
lintel in the form of a cross, and on the side-posts
in spots. These villages are all situated in the
district known as that of the Beni Zeid, whose
Moslem inhabitants always observe this custom at
the feast of the Dthahiych, as described above.
The custom seems to be a very local one, but
whether it has been derived by the Moslems from
the Christians or vice versa I cannot say.

In addition to this feast, several religious seasons
or festivals are observed by the Moslems with more
or less strictness. The most noteworthy of these
is Ramadthan, or the month of fasting. In some
respects it is a misuse of words to call this period

RAMADTHAN 23

one of fasting, as in the case of the well-to-do
Mohammedans they simply turn night into day,
and throughout the month have a nightly feast on
the daintiest dishes that Arab cookery can devise.
With the poorer classes, but especially with the
Fellahin, the case is very different. The Koran
directs that during Ramadthan neither meat nor
drink shall pass the Moslem's lips from the time
that it becomes light enough to distinguish between
a white thread and a black one, until sunset.

The Fellahin are, for the most part, very strict
in their observance of this fast (much more so,
indeed, than the townspeople), and when this
month falls in the hot season, when the days are
at the longest and the nights at the shortest, it is
a very heavy burden to them. More particularly
is this true of the prohibition to drink water,
especially in harvest-time or when there is other
hard labour to be undergone. In Jerusalem and
other towns a cannon is fired at sunset, announcing
to all the country round that the hour for food has
come. I was once riding home to Jerusalem at
the beginning of summer during Ramadthan. A
shower of rain had fallen earlier in the day, and
there were puddles in the road. Just at sunset I
met some young men — Moslems — returning to
their homes from their work in the city. As I
came up with them the boom of the sunset gun
was borne on the breeze from Jerusalem. Instantly
one of them threw himself on his face on the
ground and drank with feverish eagerness from a
puddle by the wayside.

524 RELIGION

In the spring, about Easter, occurs the Moslem
feast of Neby Musa, or the prophet Moses, which is
largely attended by the Fellahin from the district
round Jerusalem and other parts of the country. It
is a purely local feast, and is said to have been
instituted as a kind of counter-demonstration to
the gathering of Christian pilgrims from foreign
countries at Jerusalem during Holy Week.

The feast lasts seven days, in the course of which
the pilgrims visit the reputed tomb of Moses, which
Moslem tradition places west of the Jordan, on the
foot-hills in the Ghor, about an hour and a half
outh-west of Jericho. There are large buildings
at the tomb for the accommodation of those who
visit the shrine during the feast, thousands going
there every year. The Fellahin come up to Jeru-
salem in numbers from all the villages for many
miles round, dressed in their best. Each company
has one or more banners of red or green silk,
embroidered with passages from the Koran, and is
accompanied by the sound of cymbals and drums.
They gather in Jerusalem some time before the
feast, many of them being lodged in the Haram
and its numerous buildings. On the opening day
of the festival a great service is held in the Mosque
of Omar, which building the Arabs call ' The Dome
of the Rock.' This ceremony is attended by the
Governor of Jerusalem and all the great officials,
civil and military, and at its conclusion a long pro-
cession starts for Neby Musa with banners flying,
drums beating, cymbals clashing, guns firing, and
all the noise so dear to an Eastern's heart. Both

A WELY 25

children and adults look forward to it as the one
great holiday of the year.

Another local feast is that of Rubin, a famous
AVely in the maritime plain near the sea, and about
two and a half hours south of Jaffa. The people
encamp round the shrine in thousands, remaining
for several days. These and similar gatherings are
fruitful of disease. The herding together of great
crowds in a small area, amidst insanitary surround-
ings, with often a scanty or polluted water-supply,
is a frequent originator of epidemics, which are
carried by the returning pilgrims to their own
homes.

The traveller in Palestine will often see a little
clump of trees with the white dome of a low stone
building peeping out of the dark-green foliage, and
on inquiring what it is will be told that it is a Weiy,
or saint — that is, his reputed tomb. These build-
ings are usually, though not invariably, on the
tops of hills, and can be seen for many miles round,
some of them, indeed, forming landmarks for a
great distance. Who these Ouliah were is for the
most part lost in obscurity ; but the real explana-
tion is that they mark the site of some of the
old Canaanitish high places, which we know, from
many passages in the Old Testament, were not all
destroyed by the Israelites when they took posses-
sion of the land, becoming in subsequent ages a
frequent cause of sin to them.

There is generally, but not always, a grove ot
trees round the Wely. The oak is the kind most
commonly found in these groves at the present

26 RELIGION

day, as would appear to have been also the case ill
Bible times, especially in the hill country. Besides
the oak — which is invariably the evergreen kind,
and not the deciduous species of our English
woods — the terebinth, tamarisk, sidr, or nubk (the
Zizjiphiis-sp'uia-CJiristi, sometimes called Dom by
Europeans), and other trees, are to be seen as well.
Occasionally the grove is represented by one large
solitary tree under whose shade the Wely nestles.

The shrine itself usually consists of a plain stone
building, for the most part windowless, but having
a Mikrdb, or prayer-niche. It is kept in fair repair
as a rule, and whitewashed from time to time
both inside and out. Occasionally a grave is to
be found inside, under the dome, an ugly erection
of stone plastered over, about 3 feet high, and
frequently of abnormal length ; that of the so-called
grave of Joshua, near Es Salt, east of the Jordan.
is over 30 feet in length.

Occasionally there is no building over the tomb,
and in such case, where it is one of great sanctity,
the most extraordinary collection imaginable of odds
and ends is to be found on and around the grave,
having been placed there by way of honouring the
dead saint, and of claiming his intercession at the
Day of Judgment on behalf of those who have
thus reverenced his memory on earth. The most
striking instance I have seen of this latter kind of
Wely was the so-called tomb of Noah at Kerak,
the ancient Kir of Moab, before the present con-
ventional building was erected over it. The
accompanying illustration gives some idea of its

»

AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS ROUND A WELY.

COURTYARD OF VILLAGE MOSQUE.

To face page 27.

NOAH'S TOMB 27

former condition, and of the marvellous assortment
of old clay lamps, bits of broken glass, coloured
rags, sticks, bones, and miscellaneous articles of
every description, which had been deposited there
by the votaries of the prophet. With the same
idea many tie pieces of rag to the boughs of trees
growing around a Wely, or, where there is no tree,
to the bars of the windows (if there be one) of the
shrine.

The Moslems stand in great awe of these saints,
especially of the more famous of them, and often
really fear them more than they fear God. Thus,
they fully believe that should they swear by one
of these shrines to do, or not to do, any certain
thing, and should be false to their oath, some
fearful calamity would overtake them, whereas to
break a promise made in the name of the Almighty
they consider to be a far less serious matter. With
the same idea ploughs and other agricultural imple-
ments, bundles of firewood, and other articles, are
often left under the shadow of one of the trees of a
Wely, or within a considerable radius of the shrine.
The accompanying illustration shows a number
of ploughs round such a tomb in the Jebel Ajlun
far away from any village or human habitation.
Things so left are quite safe, as they are considered
to be under the protection of the saint ; and should
anyone dare to steal any of them, the Wely would
speedily avenge the insult done to his name and
shrine by some condign punishment.

In a few cases there is neither tomb nor grave,
but only a sacred tree which tradition, handed

28 RELIGION

down from father to son, declares to be the site of
some Wely, and which is reverenced accordingly.
The Mohammedans consider it unlawful to use the
branches of these trees for fuel, believing that were
they to do so the curse of the saint would rest
upon them ; and it is very remarkable, in a country
where firewood is so scarce, to see huge boughs
fallen from these sacred trees lying rotting on the
ground. In one case only will the Moslems use
such wood as fuel, and that is when, as is
occasionally done, they make a feast at the Wely
in the saint's honour.

The Christian peasants are not so scrupulous,
and do sometimes employ the fallen wood sur-
reptitiously, for domestic purposes.

On Thursday evenings, the day on which the
Mohammedans visit the graves of their dead, little
oil-lamps are often lit in the Welys in honour of the
saints buried there. Some even of the Christian
women, in the more ignorant and out-of-the-way
villages, observe this custom.

Travelling about the country one often sees by
the wayside little piles of stones a foot or eighteen
inches high, formed of single stones, sometimes to
the number of five or six, dexterously poised one
on the top of another. These miniature pillars are
in honour of some famous Wely, and are usually
found at the point where it first becomes visible, or
from which a specially good view of it can be
obtained. As instances of these Kanatir, as they
are called, may be mentioned those a little above
Bethel, where, on approaching from the north, the
first distant view of Jerusalem is obtained ; and

A VILLAGE EAST OF THE JORDAN'.

IT* '^fes?

. 3

$ V

To fact oage 28.

KANATlR 29

those below Jericho, about two-thirds of the way
to the bridge over the Jordan at a spot whence the
Moslem shrine of Neby Musa can be seen. # The
idea of these pillars, as with the other modes of
honouring the dead saint or prophet, is to obtain
his intercession on the Day of Judgment.

In connection with this subject, it is noteworthy
that the idea of intercession, whether of dead saints
or of the living, is one deeply rooted in the minds
of the people of Palestine. Thus, if they wish to
ask a favour from a superior, they infinitely prefer
to get a third person to intercede for them, to
going themselves directly to the one who can grant
their request. They find it very difficult to believe
that, for instance, an English medical man in
charge of a hospital will do his best for a patient,
unless the latter bring with him a letter of recom-
mendation from some mutual friend begging the
doctor to use all his skill for that particular case.
Many do bring such letters with them, to the great
annoyance, sometimes, of the European doctor,
especially if he be new to the country and unaware
of this trait of the native character.

A very strong belief in El Kadr, or fate, exists
among the Fellahin. This is, of course, essentially
a Mohammedan doctrine, but the Christians — that
is to say, the more ignorant ones among them —
are largely influenced by it. The orthodox Moslem
holds that all the incidents of a man's life are pre-

* These are not by any means the best specimens of these
pillars to be found. They are mentioned here as being those
most likely to be noticed by travellers. The best I have seen
are on much more unfrequented roads.

30 RELIGION

determined in the eternal decree of God, being
written, though invisibly to human eye, on the
forehead of each individual. Such a belief if
followed to its logical conclusion would, of course,
be destructive of all civil government by reducing
men to mere automata, doing only what they had
been before ordained to accomplish, whether good
or bad, and mechanically carrying out a prescribed
set of actions, thus depriving them of all true per-
sonalit} 7 and moral responsibility. But the Oriental
mind is not a logical one, and as a matter of fact,
while holding this belief, a man will admit, if
pressed, his own responsibility for his good and
bad deeds, much as the average Western. This
may be illustrated by one of their proverbs which
runs : ' Don't throw your child from the roof, and
say " Inevitable fate." '

In practice this doctrine, coupled with a general
tendency to take things easily, causes both Moslems
and Christians to be very lax about precautions of
any kind. Thus, roads along the edge of precipices
are often left without any protecting wall on the
outer side, or with only one of the flimsiest descrip-
tion ; houses, whose roofs are used almost as much
as any part of them, are built without parapets ; in
times of epidemics the simplest and most ordinary
precautions are neglected altogether, or, if begun,
are quickly dropped. I have known more than one
case where an intelligent man has built a house
without a parapet round the roof, and, when one of
the children was killed by a fall from it, to have
merely remarked, • Such was the will of God.'

FATE 31

The following story, which has given rise to one
of their proverbs (a story which probably has its
parallel in the literature of most countries), is told
by way of illustration of fate :

There was once a certain widow who had an
only son, to whom she was devotedly attached.
One summer the cholera broke out in the village
where they lived. The mother, fearful lest her son
should be stricken, resolved to keep him shut up in
her house so long as the epidemic lasted. Accord-
ingly, she fitted up a recess in one of her rooms
very comfortably, and carefully closed it in. Here
she put her son, and waited on him most
assiduously, hoping thus to keep him from infec-
tion. One day, when the grapes began to ripen,
she went to the vineyard and gathered several
bunches, which she brought to her son. Hidden
in one of them was a small venomous snake, which
bit the boy as he was eating the fruit, and in a few
minutes he died. After a while the mother, coming
to the recess, found her son dead, whereupon she
broke forth in the following lines :

1 What God had decreed has happened indeed.
In casket concealed; thy fate unrepealed,
In vain would I hide thee : death must betide thee/

The doctrine of T/iozvivab, or merit, is widely held
by Moslems in Palestine. They believe that after
death a man's good and evil deeds are weighed
against each other, and that his future condition
for eternity will be according as the one or the
other preponderates. Anything, therefore, like

32 RELIGION

almsgiving, repeating the ninety-nine names of
God, works of supererogation (such, for example,
as praying more than the five appointed times in
the day), making the pilgrimage to Mecca more
than once, etc., are all considered to add to a mans
chances of salvation or to affect his relative posi-
tion in the world to come. I have several times
heard Moslems thus account for the work of Chris-
tian medical missions and deeds of charity towards
non-Christians, things which otherwise are utterly
inexplicable to them, but which on the ground
of accumulating merit are, they think, easily
accounted for.

It is considered a meritorious action to put
drinking water by the wayside for thirsty passers-
by. In the plains, cisterns fed from deep wells by
means of water-wheels are much used for irriga-
tion ; if near the edge of the road, these cisterns
will usually have a tap for the use of travellers,
with a trough below, so that both men and beasts
can quench their thirst. One year, when the winter
rainfall had been very scanty and the wayside
springs near Bethel had dried up, the people of
that village built a little hut by the road, in which
they placed a large jar of water for the use of the
passers-by, the jar being continually replenished
throughout the long dry summer.

Usually classed with Mohammedans by Western
writers, but in reality quite distinct from them, are
the Druzes. They are found on Carmel and
scattered about Northern Palestine, but their
strongholds are the Lebanon and the Hauran (the

DRUZES 33

ancient Bashan), especially that part of the latter
known as the Jebel ed Druze. Their religion is
essentially an esoteric one, it being of its very
essence to conceal its real doctrines from every
outsider, of whatever creed. In conversation with
a Moslem they profess to accept the Koran, and
claim that in all fundamental matters of doctrine
and practice they are one with the followers of
Mohammed ; but to a Christian, on the other
hand, they would say that there is no practical
difference between themselves and the Nusareh.

The great majority of them, however, are prob-
ably in complete ignorance as to the real tenets of
their own faith, these being only known to the
small inner circle of ' Initiated ' or ' Wise ' ( Ulema,
as they are called), the great bulk of them being
'Uninitiated' or 'Ignorant' {Juhaleh). Women
may be, and are, admitted into the inner circle of
* Wise,' but so fearful are they of their secrets being
revealed that such women are not allowed to bring
their infants with them to their religious gatherings
after the latter are about a year old. These gather-
ings are held in a building called KJialwah (a word
meaning isolated or retired), a plain, unadorned
structure in some lonely spot, far from any human
habitation. The only thing that to an outsider
distinguishes the ' Initiated ' from the ' Uninitiated '
is that, while in common with Moslems both
abstain from the use of alcohol, the former also
never drink coffee nor smoke tobacco, whereas the
latter are allowed to do both.

Little or nothing is known with certainty about

34 RELIGION

the doctrines or practices of the Druze religion. It
is generally said, and I believe correctly, that they
hold the doctrine of the transmigration of souls,
but that is about the most that can be at all con-
fidently affirmed.*

* One or two things I have quite accidentally ascertained
point to the possibility of the Druze worship being a survival
of the Israelitish calf cult. I mention this with great diffi-
dence, and only as a possible hint to students.

V -J*

r*\ I

CHAPTER II

religion {continued)

The Christians, who, next to the Moslems, are the
most numerous of the religious bodies found in
Syria at the present day, are the successors of
those who lived in Palestine at the time of the
Mohammedan conquest at the close of the seventh
century a.d. When the Holy Land fell before the
sword of Khalid and the other Moslem generals, a
considerable section of the population sooner or
later embraced Islam ; but a by no means in-
significant number refused to give up the faith of
their fathers. Their descendants for generation
after generation, spite of almost every conceivable
inducement to renounce Christianity, notwith-
standing nearly every indignity, civil, social, and
religious, which a fanatical ingenuity could devise,
although treated as scarcely human, and their lives
held to be worth less than those of the cattle, yet
clung with an intense, if often blind and ignorant,
tenacity to what they believed to be the religion
of Jesus Christ. Erroneous as much of that belief
was and is, low, too, as they have sunk as far as all
spiritual life is concerned, we cannot but honour

35 3—2

36 RELIGION

them for what they have borne for their faith in
the past, and seek to help them now to rise to a
purer conception and a fuller knowledge of what
that faith really is.

It is difficult, even for those familiar with the
East, to realize now the extent to which Christians
were formerly made to feel their inferiority to
Moslems. None but Moslems, for instance, were
allowed to wear any article of clothing of a green
colour, that being the sacred hue of Islam, or
even to use for that purpose material having
anything of that colour in it. I have known of a
case where four men savagely assaulted a Christian
in whose Kumbaz, or long loose robe, they detected
a minute thread of green. In the large towns
Christians were not allowed on the side-walks, but
had to keep to the centre of the street with the
donkeys and other beasts of burden. In any place
of public resort, such as a cafe, should a Christian
inadvertently sit down on the right hand of a
Moslem, he was instantly greeted w T ith shouts of
' Ishmalya JVusrdni ' (Go to the left, you Nazarene !).
His evidence was absolutely inadmissible in a court
of law, however much he might be respected even
by his Moslem fellow-citizens. Within the memory
of some still living, the written permission, which
had (in towns at least) to be obtained from the
local Kadi, or magistrate, before the body of a
deceased Christian could be buried, was couched in
the following terms :

' I, So-and-so, give permission for the burial of
the unbeliever So-and-so, son of So-and-so, the

ORIENTAL CHURCHES .37

damned, lest the smell of his corpse should injure a
Moslem.'

It is not to be wondered if, in such circum-
stances, the bitterest feelings were cherished
towards the Moslems. Scorn was repaid with
scorn. Even now, though in the last fifty years
matters have wonderfully altered for the better,
much of the old feeling still remains, and in
particular any attempt to win the Moslems to the
faith of Christ is, by many of the native Christians,
looked upon as casting pearls before swine.

Throughout Palestine proper the great majority
of the Christians belong to the Orthodox Greek
Church, which is probably the lineal descendant, as
far as any community can be said to be such, of
the local body of Christians of the first century.
Some, however, I believe, consider the Syrian or
Jacobite to be the true National Church of the
Holy Land. The Orthodox Greeks are very
exclusive, refusing not only to recognise the Orders
of any other Christian community as valid, but
also declining to admit their baptism as even lay
baptism. I have been assured that should anyone
wish to join them from any, even of the other
Oriental communions, they would insist on rebap-
tism by a Greek priest.

In the Lebanon most of the Christian peasantry
belong to the Maronite community. This is a
distinct Church, with its own ritual, festivals,
calendar of saints, Orders, etc., but in communion
with the Church of Rome.

In a few places Armenians are to be found. In

38 RELIGION

doctrine they are Monophysites, but in other
respects there is not much difference between them
and the Orthodox Greeks. Indeed, their Church
is in Palestine really a foreign one, consisting of
congregations of the National Church of Armenia,
the members being Armenians by race, and the
services conducted in that language. They are
distinguished from the other Churches in Palestine
in the time of their celebration of Christmas. They
keep this feast on the same day as that of the
Epiphany and our Lord's baptism. In common
with both Eastern and Western Christendom, they
assign January 6 as the date of these two festivals,
and, interpreting St. Luke iii. 22, 23, to mean that
the Saviour was baptized on His birthday, they con-
sequently keep that day as the Feast of the Nativity.
In addition to the Greek Orthodox Church there
is the so-called Greek Catholic Community, a body
which has split off from the former, and which is
regarded by them as unorthodox and schismatical.
They acknowledge the supremacy of the Pope as
Head of the Church on earth, while retaining the dis-
tinctive rites and ceremonies of the Greek Church.*

* Besides the Greek Catholics, there are Armenian
Catholics, Syrian Catholics, etc. These bodies are some-
times known as the ' Uniat Churches, 1 and are of compara-
tively recent origin. Wherever the term ' Greek ' is used in
this book, it is, unless the contrary be expressly mentioned, to
be understood of creed, and not of race. It is unfortunate
that there is no recognised term in English for members of
the Greek Church as distinguished from those of the Hellenic-
race. In Arabic there is no such ambiguity, the former
being known as Rum, and the latter as Yiindn.

HELLENIC MONKS 39

Besides the Oriental Churches, there is the Roman
(or Latin, as it is called in the Levant) Church,
which has in recent times established monastic
houses, built churches, and gathered congregations
drawn from these Eastern communions. All their
distinctive characteristics are of Western origin,
and therefore do not call for detailed notice in a
work dealing specially with Oriental Churches and
races.

There exist also a number of Protestant con-
gregations, chiefly in connection with the Church
Missionary Society of the Church of England.
These congregations, though not large, relatively
to those of some other Churches, yet exert a very
considerable influence for good in the country, an
influence much beyond that which their numbers
would account for, and which is none the less real
because it is often indirect.

In connection with the Greek Church in
Palestine there is a large body of foreign ecclesi-
astics, who monopolize all the more important
posts to the exclusion of native clergy. These
foreigners are Greek by nationality, often knowing
little or nothing of Arabic, the vernacular of the
country. The monks at the present time are
entirely Hellenic, and will not admit a native of
the country among their number. The reason of
this exclusiveness is that the higher Orders of the
clergy are drawn from the ranks of the monastic
Orders only. These foreign ecclesiastics con-
sequently exclude the natives for the purpose of
retaining the power and control of the Church in

40 RELIGION

their own hands. As is inevitable in such a case,
there is but little sympathy between the two bodies
of clergy, a fact which lias worked disastrously,
and is so working, for the welfare of the Greek
Church in Palestine.

The village priests are for the most part natives
of the country, and very frequently of the place
where they minister. In the larger villages, how-
ever, where there are several priests, there is usually
an Hellenic ecclesiastic over them, who is called
Rels, or Superior. He is a monk, and may be, and,
indeed, not infrequently is, not in full Orders, and
consequently ecclesiastically inferior to the men
over whom he rules.

The Greek clergy, unlike those of the Roman
Church and of the so-called Catholic branches of
the Oriental Churches, are allowed to marry, but
should a priest's wife predecease him he is not
permitted to marry again. The monks must all
be celibates, and also the higher clergy.

The incomes of the village priests are small, and
they receive them but irregularly. Their salaries,
such as they are, are paid by the Patriarch in
whose province they live, out of the revenue of
the patriarchate, these revenues in the case of
the Jerusalem patriarchate, which includes all
Palestine, being very large. One priest, with
whom I am personally acquainted, has a salary of
eighteen shillings a month, which would be an
average stipend in a small village ; in the larger
villages they receive proportionally more. This
particular priest, as is often the case, lives in his

GREEK CONVENT OF MAR GIRIUS IN WADY KELT.

pi"jf -10.

VILLAGE PRIESTS 41

native place, and has house, land, olives, etc., of
his own ; consequently whatever he receives as
priest is in addition to what he has as an ordinary
peasant. This renders him comfortably off, as
comfort is reckoned in the East. In addition to
the salary attached to the post, a Greek cleric
receives fees from his flock at baptisms, weddings,
and on other occasions ; and should a sick person
send for him, he expects to be paid for the visit, a
bishlik (5^d.) being the usual sum !

As a body the clergy are for the most part very
ignorant. There is no middle class from which to
draw them ; consequently they are of the same
social position as the humblest of their flock, and
at times inferior to many of them in education.
One highly respectable old priest, whom I have
known for many years, has more than once told me
that all the education he ever had was six months
at school, that he was then set to herd the cattle,
and from this occupation was taken to be ordained.
Such men, of course, never preach ; indeed, preaching
is almost unknown in the village places of worship,
all that is expected of the clergy being limited,
practically, to reading through the services. Not-
withstanding these facts, the priests are treated
with the greatest reverence by their people, not
on account of their personal character, which, sad
to say, in too many cases will not bear close
inspection, but because of their office.

The dress of the Greek priests consists of a long
black garment like a cassock, with a leathern belt
round the waist, a black outer robe with full sleeves,

42 RELIGION

resembling a preacher's gown, and a tall black
cylindrical hat, with a rim round the top. This
rim distinguishes those who are in full Orders from
the monks and others who have not yet attained to
the priesthood. All Greek ecclesiastics, of what-
ever Order they may be, wear their hair long, this
custom being taken from the law of the Nazarites
(Num. vi. 5). It seems very curious at first to a
Western to see these men with great masses of
hair like a woman's. Formerly, instead of the
cylindrical hat, a fez with a dark blue turban,
similar to that still worn by the Coptic priests in
Egypt, was the clerical headdress. This latter
was, however, a badge of servitude imposed upon
the Christians by their Mohammedan conquerors,
and, with the waning power of the Turk, it has
gone the way of other tokens of social inferiority.
The higher clergy, when making a state call or
when desirous of showing special respect to the
person to whom a visit is made, put over the hat a
long black veil, which flows down the back of the
wearer nearly to the waist.

Infant baptism is the invariable rule in the Greek
Church, and is always by trine immersion. It is
followed by the chrism, both being administered at
the same service. This latter rite is held by the
Oriental Churches to be the equivalent of the
confirmation of Western Christendom. It is
customary, as with us, to have sponsors, and
commonly the same persons will stand as god-
parents for all the children of a family. This is
held to constitute a relationship, and to be within

GREEK CHURCHES 43

the prohibited degrees of the Greek Church, so
that the children of godparents may not intermarry
with the latter 's godchildren.

Some of the Greek churches are very ancient
or on ancient foundations. Externally they are
as a rule dreary, uncared-for-looking buildings, and
inside they appear to be utterly neglected, and are
too often far from clean. There are no pews, the
congregation standing during the services, and, as
these are very long, stout sticks with long cross-
pieces at the top, like huge crutches, are provided
for the people to lean on when they become weary.

A curious ceremony takes place at the consecra-
tion of a Greek church. Both the Patriarch of the
province and the Bishop of the diocese in which
the church is situated take part in the service.
They bring with them a piece of a bone of a saint.
This they proceed to boil in olive-oil in the church.
The Bishop, wearing a white silk surplice, having
completed the cooking of the relic with spices,
takes a long reed with a sponge on the top, and,
dipping it in the holy oil, makes the sign of the
cross therewith on the roof, walls, etc., all round
the building. Special prayers follow. These ended,
he takes off his silk surplice and puts on another.
After more prayers, appropriate to the occasion,
he proceeds to say Mass. This ended, he takes the
rest of the oil and the vessel (which must be a new
one), and deposits it in some spot where it will be
out of ordinary reach, as it is sacred. Finally the
Bishop tears his silk surplice into small pieces,
which he distributes among the congregation as a

44. RELIGION

blessing, the reason of this being that, as some of
the holy oil has fallen on it, he may not wear it
again.

For twelve hundred years after the Moham-
medan conquest of Palestine the Christian churches
were not allowed to have bells, the Moslems
believing that they collect the evil spirits. As a
substitute, bars of bronze, or some similar material,
were used. These bars were suspended from a
wooden frame, and when struck with a heavy
mallet emitted a deep musical note, which could
be heard to a considerable distance. In some few
places, as, for example, the Armenian monastery
in Jerusalem and the well-known Greek convent
of Mar Saba in the Wady en Nar, these old bronze
gongs may still be seen. Within the last century
Christians have been allowed the use of bells, a
concession which is looked upon by some of the
stricter Moslems as a sad proof of the decadence of
their faith.

Scattered up and down the country are large
monasteries of the Greek Church. Usually they
are to be found in lonely places, such as that of
Mar Saba just mentioned, Mar Girius (St. George)
in the Wady Kelt, the famous Convent of the
Cross, west of Jerusalem, that on Mount Tabor,
and many others. They are strongly built, and
in outward appearance more like fortresses than
religious houses, having been used in former times
by the Christians as places of refuge when danger
threatened. Though the need for them as such
has now happily passed away, at any rate for the

THE HOLY FIRE 45

present, they are eloquent witnesses to the risks
which Christians had to run in days not long
gone by.

Of the Christian festivals, perhaps the most note-
worthy — at any rate from a Western point of view
— is the ceremony of the Holy Fire (or Holy
Light, to give it its true name), which takes place
in Jerusalem, in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
on the Greek Easter Eve. The people are taught
that this ' Fire ' or 'Light' is miraculously produced
each year, on that day, in the Lord's tomb, and
great crowds come up to the Holy City to witness
the ceremony. Candles or tapers lit from the
sacred flame convey the light to the Christian
villages within a good many miles of Jerusalem.
These candles are, as soon as lit, rapidly passed to
groups of men who are eagerly awaiting them
outside the Church of the Sepulchre, and who
immediately hurry off with the precious charge to
their respective villages. It is esteemed a great
honour to be allowed to carry this light, and in
some cases certain families have the monopoly of
the privilege, a monopoly which sometimes leads
to rights between the bearers of the Holy Fire
and people of other families who are desirous of
obtaining the honour for themselves. In the
villages, as the time gets near for the cavalcade to
appear, people go out to some eminence near to
watch the road from Jerusalem for the first in-
dications of its approach, and any horseman riding
by is eagerly questioned, ' Is the Light coining ?'
1 Have you seen the Light ?' Ere long, in the

46 RELIGION

distance, is descried the little group of men carrying
the precious flame, carefully screened from the
wind. The shouts of the watchers send the news
to the village, a solemn procession is formed, the
Greek priests, in gorgeous vestments, go forth to
meet the Light, and conduct it, accompanied by
clouds of incense, amid all the noise and uproar
inseparable from an Oriental procession, and with
attendant crowds, to the church, where a service is
held in honour of its arrival.

At Eastertide the Christians dye eggs in com-
memoration of the feast. Red is the colour
ordinarily employed. The origin and meaning of
the custom seems to be quite unknown to them,
and the only reply I have ever been able to elicit
in response to my inquiries — a reply perfectly satis-
factory to an Eastern — is, ' Such is the custom.'
The dyeing is effected by wrapping the egg in silk
of the desired colour, and then boiling it, when the
shell takes up the colour from the material. At
Bethlehem the mother-o '-pearl workers dye eggs
of a brown tint, and then very deftly etch some
sacred design on them, removing with a sharp-
pointed tool the thin coloured film, without, how-
ever, cutting through the eggshell. The children
play a game with these Easter eggs. Two of them
take an egg apiece, and each tries to crush in the
end of the other's egg without cracking his own,
■and he who succeeds in accomplishing this feat
keeps both eggs.

The Mohammedans have adopted this custom
from the Christians, and at the feast of Neby Miisa

FEASTS AND FASTS 47

(which, as mentioned in the previous chapter, takes
place about the time of the Greek Easter) dye
eggs of a bright yellow. At the New Year, at
all great Church festivals, and at the beginning of
every month, the Greek priests go round to the
houses of all their flock and bless them. A vessel
of holy water is carried by an attendant, and the
priest sprinkles some of it on the house, at the
same time saying, ' Save, Lord, Thy people, and
bless Thine inheritance : grant our kings victory
over the barbarians, and preserve by the power of
Thy cross all who trust in Thee.' In return for this
ceremony the householder gives the priest some
trifling present — a handful of wheat, some dried
figs, a few eggs, or anything else that comes to
hand.

The Greeks, as a rule, observe the fast of Lent
very strictly. They make a great point of eating
olive-oil then ; indeed, with the more ignorant ones
this is the essential thing : without its use Lent
would not be Lent for them. Olive-oil is used by
all in their cooking, butter and other animal fats
being strictly forbidden to them during that period.

There are many other fasts, and as a rule they
are rigorously observed, especially those which
occur before the great Church festivals. The days
on which the fasts begin and terminate, together
with the various saints' days, are announced each
week by the priests in the churches on the previous
Sunday.

Superstitions of all kinds abound among the
Christians as well as among the Mohammedans.

48 RELIGION

Thus, if a child be ill, or long in walking through
weakness, the parents will go round to the neigh-
bours and beg some trifling thing from each house,
as a fig, a piece of bread, an onion, or even an egg-
shell or other worthless article. These they proceed
to bury in a dung-heap, afterwards firing a gun
over it, when they believe that the disease, or the
spirit causing it, will leave the child. If a man be
suffering from sciatica, an old woman, who must
be past a certain age, has to go alone out of the
little village and search for a kind of shrub known
as Shabrikeh, a low, tough, thorny plant, a favourite
food of camels. Having found one, she must,
without uprooting it, so pull and twist it that the
stem and roots become quite flexible ; she must
then place a stone on the plant and return to the
village by a different way to that by which she
quitted it, and the patient will be cured !

In a certain village in the Jebel-el-Kuds, if an
ox, cow, sheep, or goat be lost, someone takes a
Bible and reads aloud the twenty-third Psalm. As
he utters the last word, another person shuts up a
knife, razor, or dagger, which he has held open for
the purpose : the knife, etc., must remain closed till
the lost animal be found ; otherwise it will be eaten
by wild beasts !

The natives of Palestine are much afraid of the
evil-eye. Blue or gray eyes are popularly supposed
to be specially virulent and powerful, and are often
thought to be capable of seeing into the ground,
and detecting the hidden treasures which are
popularly believed to be buried in all ruins. It is

THE EVIL-EYE 49

considered most unlucky, especially by Moslems,
to express praise or admiration of a child or animal,
some untoward event being, in their opinion, sure
to follow. The usual expression in lieu of praise
or admiration is ' Mashallah ' — literally, ' What
God wills '; and a fond father or mother will be
as gratified at this as English parents at the
warmest eulogium on their children.

The people seek to counteract or ward off the
effects of the evil-eye by means of various things
hung round the necks of children and animals, or
in the former case fastened to the Tarbush, as the
fez, or red cap, is called. These charms usually
take the form of blue beads, discs of blue glass
with white centres, in the middle of which is a
black dot (the whole forming a rude representation
of a human eye), or little bits of the same coloured
material roughly fashioned to resemble a hand.
This latter charm is supposed to represent ' the
Hand of Might,' or the protecting power of God
on the person. The colour is blue, from the idea,
as mentioned above, that eyes of that hue have
special power to injure both men and animals. In
the case of new houses, the skull of some animal,
with a few blue beads, is often hung over the door-
way with the same object.

If anyone is believed to have been injured by
the evil-eye, in order to ascertain who the in-
dividual may be who has done the harm, they take
lumps of alum and heat them over the fire, care-
fully watching them the while. As the lumps
break up under the influence of the heat, they

4

50 RELIGION

believe that in one or other of them they will see,
and be able to recognise, the eye of the person who
has cast the evil spell on them, and that the spell
will at the same time be broken.

Charms of all kinds are extensively used, and
implicitly believed in by the people. Most little
children, but especially boys, will be seen with
strings of them round their necks — the blue beads
and eyes already mentioned, rude representations
of a human hand in brass, or blue glass, bits of
alum, queer-shaped pieces of bone, and other
fantastic objects. Another class of charms consists
of passages from the Koran, some of the ninety-
nine names of God, or even meaningless hiero-
glyphics, written on pieces of paper and sewn up
in square or triangular scraps of leather, which
are worn about the person. Both Moslems and
Christians have the greatest faith in these amulets,
and those persons who are credited with special
skill or power in writing them can make con-
siderable sums of money by this means.

The written charms are usually the work of
Dervishes, Ulema, and the like, but occasionally
even women do it. I know of one woman in the
Beni Zeid who has a great reputation in this
respect, people coming to her from all the country
round to purchase her charms. Regular treatises
on the subject also exist (in manuscript), giving
full directions how to prepare and write them. I
possess a copy of one of these treatises, which
once belonged to a Christian Fellah, who used,
practically, to get his living by writing amulets for

AUGURY AND OMENS 51

the peasants, but who was shown the sin of it and
induced to abandon the practice.

Augury is still employed to some extent, in-
ferences being drawn as to coming events from the
appearance of birds, animals, etc. For example, if
an owl alights on a house at night, and hoots, it is
believed to be a prophecy of the speedy death of
the owner of the house. On setting out on a
journey, it is extremely unlucky to see a raven or
gazelle, but worse than all is to meet a woman
carrying an empty water-jar. The idea in the
latter case is that, as the jar has no water in it, so
the day, journey, or enterprise, will be devoid of
blessing, this omen being specially unpropitious in
the early morning. A native friend of mine once
told me that on a certain occasion he started very
early one morning from a village where he had
been staying. As he rode out of the place he met
a woman with such a jar on her head. As he
passed her she said aloud, ' In stiallah mclanch '
(God grant that it be full), the idea, of course,
being to avert the omen. On another occasion
two men, whom I know, were riding into a village,
when they met a Moslem woman going out to the
spring, and on her head her empty pitcher. As
they came up to her, she thrust her arm as far as it
would go into the pitcher so that it might not be
empty !

But ill-omened as it is for an individual to meet
a woman with an empty water-jar, it is more
especially unpropitious for a wedding procession to
do so, as this would be an infallible indication that

4—2

52 RELIGION

there would be no blessing on the married life of
the bride and bridegroom. Should a woman thus
meet a wedding, she will turn her jar mouth down-
wards on the ground that it may not be seen to be
empty, or even, in some cases, she will break the
pitcher to pieces.

In some of the more remote districts the people
have a strong objection to being photographed.
They have an idea that the picture of a man takes
from him some part of his essence, and that he
consequently becomes weak and enfeebled.

When the new moon is seen for the first time,
many perform what is really an act of worship, or
adoration, to it. They stretch out the right hand
for an instant towards the luminary, and then
bring it back to the mouth, kiss it, and then
touch the forehead, at the same time saying,
* May God be honoured, and may you be
honoured.' This is, I have little doubt, a survival
of the idolatrous sun and moon worship once so
common throughout the East, and a form ot
adoration as old as the time of Job (Job xxxi.
2G, 27). This gesture is also employed as a token
of respect towards a superior. Thus, a man who
wishes to ask a favour will with his right hand
touch the beard of the one whose help he intreats,
and then kiss his own hand, this being equivalent
to kissing the other's beard, and seems to have
been a mode of honouring the images of heathen
gods in Tsraelitish times (1 Kings xix. 18).

When a tooth comes out of itself, they throw it
in the eye of the sun, saying, ' Take this donkey's

BELIEF IN EVIL SPIRITS 53

tooth, and give me a gazelle's instead.' Donkeys
are in the East, as with ns, considered very stupid
animals, though they share this unenviable dis-
tinction with goats. Indeed, if they wish to say
that a man is very obtuse or obstinate, they
generally call him a goat.

There is a widespread belief in evil spirits of
various kinds, jinns, ghouls, afrites, et hoc genus
omne, so familiar to readers of the ' Thousand and
One Nights.' They are popularly supposed to
specially haunt corners of houses, and an Arabic
proverb says, ' j\ T o corner but has its demon.' Caves
also are often believed to be inhabited by them.
In the country east of the Dead Sea, where the
cultivated land is frequently a great distance from
the villages, the Fellahin, at seed-time and harvest,
not uncommonly live for weeks at a time in these
caves so as to be near their work. Before entering
them they always sacrifice a fowl or some animal
to the spirit of the place, in order to be on good
terms with it.

In certain localities in the land of Moab, and
other places east of the Jordan, hot springs occur.
The Fellahin are exceedingly fond of bathing in
these natural Turkish baths, and many of them
before entering the water make an offering of a
fowl, the idea being, apparently, that the jinn
who presides over the spring and controls the
subterranean fires, which impart their warmth to
the water, will not heat it sufficiently unless he be
propitiated by an offering.

Insane people are supposed to be possessed by

54 RELIGION

these jinns, the ordinary term for such unfortunate
individuals being Majnun — that is one who has a
jinn.

This belief in spirits is very firmly fixed in the
minds of the people. When Kerak was first
occupied by the Turkish troops, some twelve years
ago, I remember an intelligent, well-educated
native telling me, in all seriousness, that two
ghouls had been caught in the old castle there,
and been put in iron cages to be brought over to
Jerusalem.

The religion of both Moslems and Christians is
to a very large extent purely external. The former
divide actions into Heidi (lawful) and Haram
(unlawful), and so long as a man abstains from the
latter he is profoundly satisfied with himself.
More than this, what may be called ' ritual actions '
are often counted of greater importance than the
keeping of the moral law. Thus, it is considered
an 'unlawful' (i.e., sinful) act to tread on crumbs
of bread, and I have seen a Moslem dealer, whose
every other sentence would be an oath, and who
would never miss a chance of cheating a customer,
most scrupulously pick up from the floor of a
railway-carriage a few minute fragments of bread
which a European traveller had dropped, lest he
should inadvertently step on them.

Asceticism, also, in the matter of food, outweighs
many a sin. I know a case of a man who is
notorious among his fellow- Moslems for breaking
nearly all the moral precepts of the Koran, \ v ho
yet is held in high honour as a saint. His claim

CHRISTIAN AND MOSLEM IGNORANCE 55

to a reputation for sanctity rests on the fact that
for years he is said never to have drunk any liquid
whatever, obtaining the moisture necessary to
maintain his body in health by eating water-
melons.

In many cases both Christians and Moslems are
intensely ignorant of their own faith. A Greek
Christian, who came from a large village where
there was but a handful of Christians among a con-
siderable Moslem population, and where there was
no resident priest, once said to me : ' We are very
ignorant ; the only difference between our women
and those of the Moslems is that the latter swear
by the Prophet, and ours by the Virgin.'

One result of European missions in Palestine
has been to stir up to some extent the native
Churches to care for the education and instruction
of their own people, yet the present condition of
their flocks in this matter still leaves much to be
desired.

Prayer, as taught in the Bible, is but little
known by Mohammedans and the more ignorant
Christians. In the case of the former it would be
within the mark to say that in the great majority
of instances the externals of prayer are the all-
important thing. The doctrine of fate, mentioned
above, must if followed to its logical conclusion
render all real prayer nugatory.

The majority of Moslems are very strict about
their devotions, carefully observing the hours of
prayer. Wherever they may be at such times, in
shop or vineyard, building-yard or cornfield, on

56 RELIGION

board ship or riding across the country, they stop
their work, take off their shoes, spread their outer
cloaks as prayer-mats on the ground, and then
repeat the prescribed formulas and go through
the ordained prostrations. Before prayer, the face,
feet, hands and arms (as far as the elbows), must be
washed with water, or, failing that, cleansed with
sand. Without this preliminary purification they
hold that God would not hear.

The sight of a large number of Moslems at
prayer, led by their Imam, standing in long silent
rows, prostrating themselv r es on the ground simul-
taneously, or bowing in unison with the precision
of a regiment of soldiers at drill, is a very im-
pressive scene ; but prayer, in the Christian sense
of the word, it emphatically is not. The repetition
of the KaUmah, or Moslem formula of faith, ' There
is no God but God, and Mohammed is the Apostle
of God,' the recitation of the first chapter of the
Koran, and certain other formulae, constitute the
sum total, in a Moslem's mind, of the worship
required of him.

It must be confessed that the more ignorant
members of the Oriental Churches are almost
equally in the dark as to what true prayer is. A
few on rising in the morning say, ' O Gate of
God, O Opener (of the day), O Wise One,
O Provider, O Generous One !' but beyond this I
fear it must be said that individual, personal,
private prayer is unknown to many.

CHAPTER III

VILLAGE LIFE

The villages of Palestine are for the most part —
at least, in the hill country — on or near the ancient
sites ; and some not only occupy the same spots,
but also bear practically the same names, they did
thousands of years ago, at the dawn of history.
The sites of these ancient towns and villages were
largely determined by physical conditions, such as
a position easily defended or the proximity of an
abundant water-supply. In the hill country the
former reason seems to have been the one which
was chiefly taken into account, and consequently
most of the present villages and hamlets are on
the summits of rocky knolls or outlying spurs,
sometimes in most commanding situations, with
magnificent views over wide stretches of country.
Those in valleys are almost invariably close to a
copious spring of water.

The villages in the hills are much more sub-
stantially built than those in the plains ; stone of
good quality, and easily worked, abounds, and
where a hamlet occupies an ancient site, old
materials are often worked up again, and in such

57

58 VILLAGE LIFE

places one frequently sees finely-dressed blocks,
fragments of pillars, capitals of columns, etc., built
into the walls of newly- erected houses. Some of
these stones may have come down from the earliest
times, and have been used by Canaanitish, Jewish,
Greek, Roman, and Syrian masons in succession.

Not infrequently the summit of the knoll is
occupied by the remains of an old town or castle,
the village being built round it, the gray houses
sometimes clinging, as it were, to the rock, and at
a distance so like it that often it is difficult to tell
which is rock and which is ruin or dwelling. The
houses are, as a rule, built closely together, narrow
courtyards or winding alleys alone separating them
from each other. This is often due to the con-
tracted site or steep slope of the ground, but
sometimes to the need of protection, the smaller
the circuit of the village the easier beino; its
defence, and some of these villages before the
invention of artillery must have been almost
impregnable.

The villages in the plains are not uncommonly
situated on a slight elevation, but, as building stone
is not to be had within reasonable distance, the red
earth of the plains is made sometimes to do duty
in its stead. Some of these villages are very
picturesque, especially in the spring-time, with
the low red-walled houses, their flat earthen roofs
covered with a rich crop of grass, hedges of prickly-
pear surrounding the place, a few tall date-palms
growing amongst the houses, and a pool of water,
left by the winter rains, filling what otherwise

CONSTRUCTION OF A HOUSE 59

would be an unsightly pit, produced by digging
clay for making the houses or covering the roofs.

In building a house, local conditions will very
much influence the style and nature of the con-
struction, and materials used. In the mountains
timber is very scarce and stone abundant. This
has led to the adoption of domed stone roofs, and
the heavy nature of these roofs has obliged the
building of very substantial walls in order to with-
stand their thrust, a thickness of 3 feet being quite
common, and in many cases more is needed. The
houses for the most part consist of but a single
room. The interior is usually in two parts — a
raised portion, called a Mustabeh, occupying some
three-quarters of the space, and a lower part near
the door. On the Mustabeh the family live, and
underneath it a horse, one or more donkeys, a cow,
or goats, will be stabled at night. Farm imple-
ments, firewood, charcoal, etc., with fowls, will also
find accommodation there. On the raised part,
too, will be the bins where the corn, dried figs,
lentils, and such-like stores, are kept. In an
arched recess in the thickness of the wall the
bedding will be piled away during the day. Holes
made by leaving out a stone here and there occur
in the inner courses of the walls, and these contain
various articles of household use, while between
the stones pegs are driven, on which are hung
baskets, straw trays, gourds, etc.

In some cases a small window or opening is
made high up in the wall, but very often there is
no aperture other than the door, the reason of this

m

VILLAGE LIFE

having been the insecure state of the country in
years gone by, windows being considered to give
too great an opportunity to an enemy. And even
now, though matters are in this way much improved,
and life is more secure in most places, yet still this
idea is to some extent justified. Not so very long
ago a man, one night, climbed up to the window
of a house in Bethlehem and shot his enemy, the
owner, dead as he lay asleep in bed.

H

T_

K

M

The above plan is that of a typical native house
in the hill country, west of the Jordan. A, B, C,
is the Mustabeh, or raised part, where the family
lives ; D, E, F, G, H, a row of cornbins ; I, a sort
of hearth, with sometimes, but by no means always,
a rude chimney in the thickness of the wall ; K, the

INSIDE THE HOUSE 61

recess for the bedding ; L, the steps, if any ; M, the
doorway.

Such is the ordinary type of house in which the
average class of peasants dwell. The well-to-do
will have more than one room, though all the
rooms on the ground-floor will be of similar type,
while the poorest class will live in mere hovels,
built very roughly, sometimes without mortar, the
whole floor being on a level with the ground. In
more recently built houses, especially where the
owner is well off, the style will be more like that
of the towns, with no Mustabeh, and with fair-sized
windows with glass in them, and perhaps outside
wooden shutters.

An Ally eli, or upper room, as the word means,
is not unfrequently built on the top, especially for
sleeping in during the summer, being cooler than
the house below. Sometimes the guest-room of
a village will be an Aliyeh. The little chamber
(2 Kings iv. 10) made by the Shunamite for Elisha
was an Aliyeh ; and as such rooms are generally
reached, not through the house, but by an outside
staircase from the street, he would be able to come
and go without in any way intruding on, or inter-
fering with, the family. Occasionally these 'summer
rooms ' (Judg. iii. 20) will have only four walls,
the roof being formed of a vine trained over it for
the purpose, or a shelter of boughs of trees — such
places, of course, being only used in summer.

The building of these houses, especially where
they are to be more than usually substantial, or
where the owner is poor, is often spread over

62 VILLAGE LIFE

several years. When a man has decided to build,
he begins by collecting stone for the purpose. The
rock of Palestine is mostly limestone, of which
there are several kinds suitable for building. The
best is a very hard kind, which is sometimes of a
reddish colour, but more commonly a cream tint,
and is capable of taking a fine polish ; it is generally
known as Mizzeh. There are two sorts of it —
Mizzek yahudch, the hardest stone of the country,
and Mizzeh helu, a softer variety. Next comes
Kakuleh, a fine white freestone which cuts readily,
and yet is hard and strong, and is much used for
angles, cornices, mullions, etc., wherever, in fact, the
stone has to be accurately dressed or carved ; then
MaHkeh, a softer freestone not so durable ; and
lastly N&rek, a very light, soft, chalky material,
used only for the domed roofs.

Having collected stone, the foundations are
dug, and in the hill districts are almost invariably
carried down to the rock, which is rarely at any
great depth below the surface. In the plains, on
the other hand, it is sometimes impossible to get
down to rock. The mortar consists of earth and
lime, the Palestine builders not considering it neces-
sary to use sand ; the earth dug out of the founda-
tions, supplemented by soil from the adjoining
fields, being deemed sufficient. As the shape of
the stones is irregular, much more mortar, in
proportion, is required than in Europe, and, owing
to the scarcity of water in mostj places, this forms
one of the most serious items in the cost of build-
ing a house.

THE WALLS AND ROOF 63

In making the walls, a row of stones of uniform
thickness on the outer face is carefully laid on the
foundation by a master-mason, forming the outer
surface of the wall, a similar row being laid to
form the inner one. But as, except on the face,
the stones are very uneven, an irregular space is
left down the middle for the whole length of the
wall, and this, as soon as the two outer rows are
laid, is filled up by another workman with mortar,
and small rough stones, known as Dcbsh, gathered
from the land : thus the course, or Midmak, is
made level for the next one.

The roofs in many parts are, as already men-
tioned, of stone, and dome-shaped. These domes
are cleverly made, some builders, particularly those
of Bethlehem, being noted for their skill in this
department of their trade. To form these roofs,
the walls of the room are not finished off at the
same level all along, but, on the contrary, each
wall ends in a more or less pointed arch. Then,
if the room be a small one, the interior is filled up
with a domed-shaped mass of earth on which the
roof is shaped, the earth being afterwards removed.
Where the space is too large for this method to
be adopted, a number of stout poles are procured
and fixed upright in the room, and an elaborate
framework of sticks of the shape of the intended
roof is made on these poles or pillars, the frame-
work being covered with grass, and this again with
mud, thus forming what may be called a mould
of the inner surface of the dome. As soon as this
is dry the building of the roof takes place. Pieces

64 VILLAGE LIFE

of the Nareh, or similar light stone, roughly wedge-
shaped, are used, and when the whole dome is
completed it is left for a few days to settle, the
supports being afterwards removed, when it is
found to be perfectly firm and solid.

It is a common custom, when anyone is thus
roofing a house, for all the neighbours to come
and lend a helping hand, carrying up the stone,
mortar, etc., to the masons engaged on the work,
so that even a large dome will be completed in
the course of a few hours, it being a great
advantage to have the whole done in as short a
time as possible. Those who thus help do not
receive payment, but the owner of the house makes
a feast for them in the evening. These occasions
are greatly enjoyed by the women and children,
who shout and sing and clap their hands, so that
all the village knows when a house is being roofed.
After this is finished, the roof is completed by
carrying up the walls for two or three courses
above the spring of the dome, filling up the
corners with masonry, and covering the roof with
earth ; or instead of earth a kind of rubble is
sometimes used, consisting of a sort of fine gravel
mixed with lime, and where well done it forms
a very hard and water-tight roof. Where only
earth is used, it is laid on to a considerable depth,
and trodden or rolled hard, and if properly done
is wonderfully water-tight. It must, however, be
well rolled each year in the autumn, before the
rains, as a rank crop of grass often grows there
in the spring, on which goats may sometimes be

ROOFS 65

seen grazing, and the roots of which loosen the
earth, thus rendering it pervious to the rain
unless it be well rolled.

In some districts a kind of white clay, called
Hoivwar, is found, which makes an excellent
covering. It is mixed with water and crushed
straw, being laid on pretty thickly, and as it dries
it is well rolled. It is, when carefully done, very
effective and very durable. Roofs are also covered
with large flat paving - stones laid in cement.
When well laid, this forms the best protection
from rain and snow, but it requires constant
watching, as, in the hills, frost and snow in the
winter destroy the cement between the joints,
and as a result there is much leakage.

East of the Jordan, owing to the greater amount
of suitable timber, the houses are not so sub-
stantially built, as the roofs are flat, and con-
sequently the pressure is vertical. In the case of
a small house, one or more stout beams called
Homarah (lit., a ' she-donkey ') run from end to
end, the longer way of the room. Across these
a number of much lighter rafters are laid ; on
these, again, are reeds, secured side by side as
closely as they will go, and on the reeds a
quantity of the Netsh bush already mentioned ;
while over all, earth, to the depth of a foot or
eighteen inches, is piled and rolled hard. These
roofs do not as a rule last long, unless fires are
lit fairly often in the room ; for a kind of small
weevil takes up its abode in the reeds and rafters,
boring innumerable small holes in them, and soon

66

VILLAGE LIFE

destroying the roof. One soon sees if they are
at work, as, when this is the case, a light powder,
like very fine sawdust, falls on everything ; while
at night, when all is quiet, the sound of the jaws
of the tiny insects busy at work can be distinctly
heard. If, however, fires are lit in the room, the
smoke keeps the weevils away, and where this is
done the roof lasts a long time.

The plan of the larger houses in Moab and
other parts of Eastern Palestine differs consequently
somewhat from that already given. In the above
plan of a house I have more than once stayed in,
east of the Jordan, A, B, is an open space in the
middle of the house ; C, a hearth ; D, D, etc., are
arches of stone on which the roof rests, the space
being too great to allow of single beams being
used ; E is the main door, with a courtyard ; F,

WOODEN LOCKS 67

a smaller door ; G, G, etc., are the spaces between
the arches. The floors of these spaces are usually
raised two or three feet above the rest of the
room, and on them the family live, or else they
are occupied with sacks of corn, sometimes piled
up to the roof, or on them are stored agricultural
implements, household utensils, and the general
possessions of the owners.

The doors are as a rule strong, and roughly
made ; the hinges are generally formed by projec-
tions at top and bottom, from the plank which
forms the inner edge of the door, these projections
working in two holes, one in the upper and the

<\ : ^^3

U

^

other in the lower lintel. Rough iron locks are
a good deal used, but the old form of wooden
lock, which has been in vogue for thousands of
years, is still by no means uncommon. The
principle of these locks is decidedly ingenious.
The end of the wooden bolt (B) furthest from
the wall has a deep groove (G) in it for about
a third of its length ; above this groove are several
holes in a regular pattern (H). In the block
through which this bolt runs are a number of
iron pins, corresponding in numbei^and pattern
with the holes in the bolt, and so arranged that
when the bolt is pushed home the pins drop into
the holes and prevent its return.

5—2

68 VILLAGE LIFE

The key with which it is opened consists of a
piece of wood which will go easily into the groove,
and having on its upper surface a number of small
pegs exactly corresponding in number and pattern
with the holes in the bolt, the length of the pegs
being precisely the same as the thickness of that
part of the bolt in which are the holes. Thus,
when the key is fitted into the bolt and pushed
up, the pegs lift the pins clear of the bolt, which
can then be drawn back and the door opened. It
will be seen that no key is needed to shoot the
bolt, and this will explain how Ehud, after killing
Eglon, was able to lock the door where the dead
King lay (Judg. iii. 23), and thus gain time to
escape, for, of course, no one can draw back the
bolt without the proper key. The lock is ordinarily
placed on the outside of the door, but sometimes
on the inside, and where this is done a hole is cut
in the door to admit the hand and key, a custom
referred to in Cant. v. 4.

House-tops play a very important part in village
life in Palestine. In the hilly districts the one-
storied rooms are often built back to the side of
the knoll, or hill, on which the village stands ; or
where it is in a valley, a perpendicular rock surface
will occasionally be utilized as one of the walls,
and the roof will thus be on a level with the street
above. Where such a village is dependent on the
rain for its water-supply, the roof will be made
flush with the roadway, in order to get a greater
area from which to collect the water for the cistern
below. When this is done, it is often impossible

HOUSE-ROOFS 69

to tell from above where the street ends and the
roof begins. Once when starting from Madeba,
in the Belka, in the small hours of a dark winter's
night, I twice found myself and my horse on the
roof of a house instead of in the street. In other
cases the roadway has gradually risen to the level
of the roofs. This is caused by the habit the
Fellahin have of throwing the ashes from their
ovens and the sweepings from their floors into
the little narrow lanes of the village. In the lapse
of centuries this rubbish has slowly accumulated
to such an extent that the surface of the court-
yards, once level with the street, is now several
feet below it, and the latter has so risen that
it is almost, if not quite, on a level with the
house-tops.

The roofs, although really domed, as already
described, are not unfrequently afterwards levelled
up so as to make them quite flat, or sloping
slightly to one corner to throw off the rain more
easily. They are put to an infinite variety of
uses ; thus, in a village built on the side of a
particularly steep valley, where it was almost
impossible to find a flat space, I have seen a
house-top used as a threshing-floor. Where the
house is not built against the hillside, faggots of
brushwood, used by the women for firewood, are
often piled up on the roof for safety. During
the sesame harvest the green stalks, with their
long, narrow seed-pods, are stacked there to dry.
Olives are spread out to mature before being-
crushed, and the housewife will keep her spare

70 VILLAGE LIFE

jars there. During the dry season I have seen
goats and sheep folded there at night, and in
the hot, sultry nights of summer the whole family
will frequently sleep on the house-top.

The good-wife builds her eornbins, moulds her
huge water-jars, dries her BurgJud, and does various
other household tasks, there. After sunset in the
summer evenings, the men will often bring their
long pipes and smoke here, discussing the day's
news or work, and enjoying the cool breeze.
Should a quarrel be going on, or a fight, or an
attack on the village be imminent, all the villagers
will be upon the roofs (see Isa. xxii. 1), which
command a much better prospect of what is going
on than can be obtained in the narrow, crooked
lanes ; and I have known of more than one
treacherous murder, and attempted murder, where
the murderer has, from the house-top, thrown a
heavy stone on the skull of his unsuspecting victim
passing below. When an announcement which
concerns the village generally has to be made, one
of the elders mounts to an elevated roof, and, in
tones which can be heard all over the place, tells
his news or issues his orders (St. Matt. x. 27).*

In the case which has been already mentioned,

* The following is the formula with which the announce-
ment is made : ' thou that hearest the voice pray in the
name of Mohammed , — (or ' of Christ, 1 if it be a Christian
village). If there are both Christians and Moslems, the crier
says : ' Let the Moslem pray in the name of his Prophet, and
the Nazarene in the name of his Friend, the matter is such
and such.''

SHEPHERD AND SHEEP.

ROMAN BRIDGE OVE1! THE JORDAN.

,.,,,/. ,11

HOUSE-TOPS 71

of a number of rooms built on to each other for
a family of sons, the roofs will join, though some-
times at different levels. In some cases these
roofs are reached from the streets by an outside
staircase — a circumstance which explains several
points in the New Testament. Thus, for example,
when (St. Matt. xxiv. 17) the man on the house-
top is warned not to go down into his house to
fetch anything, the thought clearly is, that he is
to escape instantly, so close at hand is the danger,
descending into the street at once, and not going
round into his house : otherwise this trifling delay
would cost him his life.

Again, in the healing of the palsied man, the
Saviour was, I hold it, in the courtyard of a house,
standing, very likely, in the doorway of one of the
rooms opening into it, this courtyard being so full
that the four men found it impossible to get their
sick friend near Him. Mounting by the staircase
from the street to such a roof as has been described
above, they easily reached the spot above that
where Jesus was standing. Here a further diffi-
culty met them : the house, in accordance with
the Mosaic law (Deut. xxii. 8), had a parapet
round the roof, unlike many of the houses of the
Fellahin to-day, and it was impossible to lift him
safely over it, and let him down into the courtyard
below. This parapet was, however, not of a very
substantial nature ; like many such in Palestine
to-day, it was composed of tiles (St. Luke v. 19).
These tiles are, in shape and size, somewhat like
those used in England for draining fields, except

72 VILLAGE LIFE

that they are much thinner. They are laid, with
mortar, lengthwise, one above another (the thick-
ness of the parapet being the length of the tile),
a light, strong wall being thus produced, which
allows the breeze to pass freely, and permits those
on the roof to see something of what is going on
around, without being themselves visible. This
parapet being gone, it was easy enough for the
four men to lower the mattress on which the
palsied man lay, down to the spot where the
Lord stood.

Cisterns are much used for storing rain-water
collected from the roofs, courtyards, and streets
of the village. They are made in the ground and,
in districts where the supply of water is obtained
entirely from them, it is common for anyone who
wishes to build a house to make a cistern the
previous year, both in order that he may have
water for building, and also because the water
gathered the first year in it is not considered
wholesome.

Many villages have no other water-supply than
these underground cisterns, and old sites are often
honeycombed with them. Sometimes a hole has
to be dug on purpose, but not unfrequently one
caused by getting stone is utilized for the purpose.
Round the interior of the hole a strong wall is
built, and, resting on it, a domed or barrel-shaped
roof, similar to those of the houses, a square open-
ing being left through which to draw water, and
sufficiently large to allow a man to pass through
when the well needs to be cleaned. The floor

PARAPET OF " TILING.

A SHOP IN UOAB.

page 7_.

CISTERNS 73

slopes slightly towards a spot immediately below
the mouth of the cistern. The whole of the inside
is then thickly plastered with lime and earth, and,
when nearly dry, a coating composed of lime,
ground pottery, and sand, is given to the plaster.
In process of time this becomes intensely hard and
perfectly water-tight. These cisterns should, even
in the most favourable circumstances, be cleaned
out every few years, as a considerable amount of
dust is carried down into them from even the best-
kept roofs.

The natives almost always use buckets in the
villages with which to draw the water, and these
are infinitely preferable to pumps, as each time the
bucket descends it carries with it a certain quantity
of air, which helps to keep the water sweet and
prevents its becoming stagnant, whereas a pump
has no such good effects.

In years of abnormally short rainfall in these
villages, which depend entirely on rain-fed cisterns
for their water-supply, when these are nearly
exhausted, there is a good deal of stealing of
water in the dark ; and in order to prevent this,
I have known people to spread their mattresses at
night on the mouth of the well, as it is called, and
to sleep there.

The village shop, as in more civilized lands,
plays an important part in village life. In all
but the smallest hamlets, one or two of these
shops are to be found, while in the larger places,
especially those that are centres of trade, there
will be many of them. Here may be bought

74 VILLAGE LIFE

articles of clothing of native manufacture, calicoes
from Europe, red shoes, striped kerchiefs for
turbans, coloured cottons and silks for embroider-
ing their gala dresses, heavy cloaks, and sheepskin
coats. The housewife will find rice, coffee, sugar,
tobacco, soap, petroleum, matches, etc. In the
larger villages, besides these things, one can buy
native hardware, felt for saddle-cloths, nosebags
and hobbles for horses, certain drugs, powder and
shot, flint and steel, and a variety of miscellaneous
goods. In the better shops the articles in which
the owners deal will be kept in rough shelves,
made of the wooden cases in which the tins of
petroleum are imported from Russia. These boxes,
about 18 inches long, 15 deep, and 9 wide, are
laid on their sides in rows one on the top of
another, and form convenient receptacles for the
various commodities, which are generally laid, just
as they are, in these shelves ; any perishable articles
they keep in wooden boxes from Damascus.

The shops themselves are small rooms, a few
feet square, without a window, and opening on to
the street. In the less-important places, any odd
corner, the space under an archway leading on to
the roof, or any hole that can be made sufficiently
secure against thieves, will serve the purpose. The
shopkeeper often lives in his shop, and I have on
more than one occasion been glad to avail myself
of such a shelter. Much of the buying and selling
is done by barter, money being a very scarce
commodity. As one sits chatting with the shop-
keeper, a young man comes in for some tobacco,

A VILLAGE SHOP 75

and tenders a couple of eggs in payment ; these
are accepted, and he receives a little square paper
packet from a rough straw basket containing a
pile of such packets. Presently a youth appears
with a dirty tin can to be filled with petroleum ;
he has no money with him, but says his father
has sent him and will pay when he next has any,
and, as he is the son of the sheikh of the village,
the owner of the shop trusts him. In a few
minutes a young woman appears with a small
basket of barley which she wishes to exchange
for some native sweets ; the shopkeeper takes the
barley, which he empties into a box half full of
that grain, and gives her in return a handful of
indigestible-looking red and white sugar-plums,
about the size of peas. A boy comes next with
a single egg, which he tenders in payment for
some sugar : the proper price of the amount he
wants is two eggs, but he has only one just now,
and will bring the other as soon as he can get it ;
the man agrees, and gives him an irregular lump
of sugar from a sackful in one corner, and the lad
departs well pleased.

The next customer is a middle-aged man, who
wants a skein of red cotton for his wife. A bundle
of skeins wrapped up in paper is produced from
a hole in the wall, and the man, who is very
suspicious, and evidently thinks the shopkeeper is
trying to cheat him, at length selects one, and,
after haggling over the price, produces a small
coin in payment. The shopkeeper objects to it as
being too much worn ; ' By the life of the Prophet,

76 VILLAGE LIFE

I have nothing else,' returns the customer, and the
other, rather than lose his custom, accepts it. It
is, however, a trifle more than the price of the
skein, and, after hunting all over his shop, the
salesman cannot quite scrape together the full
amount of change, so after a lot of talking and
arguing the man goes off with his purchase, and the
sum of half a farthing to his credit on the other's
1 books ' — i.e., his head ! Just as he gets outside
the door, the boy who bought the sugar returns
to discharge his debt, one of his mother's hens
having in the meanwhile very obligingly laid an
egg. And so it goes on all day long.

Even in the large market villages much of the
payments to the shopkeepers is in kind. In
exchange for their wares they take fowls, eggs,
wheat, and other farm produce, which they in
turn sell in the towns for cash. Another form
of this trading by barter is met with in the
summer. A man has his land planted with vines,
and so can grow but little wheat, but during the
grape season he will now and then take a load
of fruit to a village where there are no vines, and
exchange it for corn, giving three pounds of grapes
for a pound of wheat. Prickly-pears, tomatoes,
water-melons, etc., are often brought for sale in
this way.

East of the Jordan, about Kerak, where there is
even less coin in circulation than in other districts,
the people, when selling their produce, state its
value in corn, even though the payment may be
actually made in coin. The shops in Kerak and

PEDLARS 77

some other places are much more roomy than
those in Western Palestine, as the accompanying
illustration will show.

Cattle markets are held at certain towns and
villages, as Jerusalem, Lydd, etc., once a week,
or at longer intervals. To these the peasants
bring their horses, camels, cattle, mules, and
donkeys for sale. That at Jerusalem is held on
Friday.

There are a few itinerant pedlars who go about
the country selling needles and thread, combs,
cheap round looking-glasses, and other small
articles, chiefly such as are required by women.
They also do most of their trade by barter,
receiving eggs, grain, etc., in return for their
wares, and disposing of these in the towns for a
fresh stock of goods. A few Jews wander about
selling silk for embroidering the women's dresses ;
while itinerant cobblers, tinsmiths, and jewellers
are also to be met with.

When the Mohammedan conquest of Palestine
took place, Arab adventurers and warriors from
various tribes of the Hejaz, and other parts of
Arabia, settled in the country and became powerful.
Among these were men from two clans, or tribes,
known as Kes and Yemen. They gradually
acquired position and authority, and had many
villages in the Jebel el Kuds under their control.
These two tribes had been at enmity in their own
land, and carried the memory of this enmity into
Palestine. After a while the old feud broke out
again, and there were frequent quarrels, often

78 VILLAGE LIFE

ending in bloodshed, between the various villages
attached to the two factions. Sometimes the one
got the upper hand, and sometimes the other.
The Christians were obliged to side with one or
the other. In one village where there were
several large families, one half was Kes, and the
other Yemen. Not that they were keen partisans,
but merely to preserve their village from destruc-
tion, as, whichever side was for the moment
supreme, the place would be unmolested for the
sake of the moiety of the population which was
in league with that particular side. The in-
habitants of the villages which belong to the two
factions were, and are still to a great extent,
distinguished by the colour of their turbans, those
of the Kes adherents being red, and the Yemen
white. The chiefs of the respective factions would
always acknowledge the claims of their Christian
partisans, and would come to their help when in
danger from the opposite party. The Turkish
Government has during the last twenty-five years
made its authority more felt, and in consequence
the fights between these two factions have become,
to a large extent, a thing of the past, though not
altogether so. I can recall one at least within the
last few years, although no lives were lost in the
skirmishes.

In some of the villages of the Beni Zeid, as
Abud, Abu Meshal, Slukh, Deir ul Ghassaneh,
Beit Rima, Koba, and Kefr Ain, are families of
a widely-spread clan known as the Baraghafeh.
They take their name from Abu Bekr, the first

BARAGHAFEH 79

Khalifa, or successor of Mohammed, from whom
they claim to be descended. They consider them-
selves much above the ordinary Fellah in, and their
women are secluded, more as those of the towns-
people. After marriage they are, in many cases,
not allowed to go out of the house into the street
until middle-aged, and under any circumstances
not for several years. When at length they do
begin to go outside the house, they cover their
heads and faces with a sort of cloak. In old age
they go about unveiled, and dressed much as other
peasant women.

The Beni Zeid mentioned above were, with the
Beni Harith and others whose names will be seen
marked on some maps of Palestine, Arab settlers
who acquired authority in bygone centuries over
certain districts, their names being given to those
districts to the present time.

There is a very strong feeling about the duties
of clanship among the Fellahin. This has, no
doubt, been fostered and developed by the lawless-
ness and unsettled state of the land in days now
past ; still, if a man can prove even the most distant
relationship to another, the claim is recognised, and
help and assistance will, as far as possible, be given
him in any difficulty.

The same feeling runs through most things, and
binds together people of the same creed, family,
and village, for mutual help and protection. On
the other hand, if a quarrel takes place between
two persons, it is often considered to extend to all
the members of his house or clan, and sometimes

80 VILLAGE LIFE

even more widely still. This is illustrated by their
proverbs, such, e.g., as, ' He who is not of your
family your enemy does not envy him,' and, again,
' Your neighbour's enemy does not love you.'
This clannishness has, however, been fatal to any
national life ; its practical effect has been to split
up the people into little parties, distrustful of all
outside their own particular set, and so has
prevented any combination of the people against
oppression or to secure better government. Though
no part of the policy of the foreign Power which
now rules Palestine, it is, nevertheless, another
instance of the truth of the old Roman maxim,
' Divide et impera.' In all probability its source,
apart from an innate tendency in this direction,
is to be found in the influx of Arab settlers in
the period succeeding the Mohammedan conquest
of Syria, who, as mentioned when speaking of the
Kes and Yemen factions, brought their ancient
feuds with them, and perpetuated them in their
new home, thus being a further fulfilment concern-
ing Ishmael and his descendants, that his hand
should be against every man, and every man's
hand against him (Gen. xvi. 12). This lack of
unity is acknowledged by the best of the people,
but so far they have found no remedy for it.

The head of the village is called a Sheikh (literally,
* an old man '). As a rule there is only one Sheikh,
but occasionally there is more than one. Till
recent times there was a great deal of real authority
attaching to the office, extending even, in rare
cases, to the power of life and death. The policy

SHEIKHS 81

of the Ottoman Government of late years has been
to abolish such offices, as far as any effective
authority is concerned, so that except in very out-
of-the-way places, where the central power is still
comparatively ineffective, the position of a Sheikh
is very largely a sinecure, and carries with it but
little of the old prestige ; nevertheless, an able
man, especially if he be rich and of an influential
family, has still a good deal of indirect power.
Many cases of petty crimes are never taken to
the Government, but settled locally ; and I have
even known the same course pursued in a murder
case. In serious matters several of the more
prominent Sheikhs of the neighbourhood will be
called in to advise or adjudicate, and their decision
will be binding. When a Sheikh dies, the Sheikhs
of the adjacent villages meet together to choose his
successor, the office not being hereditary. As a
matter of fact, however, unless there were anything
specially to disqualify him, the eldest son of the
late Sheikh would succeed his father.

Besides the Sheikh, every village has a kind of
council of men chosen by the villagers. They are
the official representatives of the village in all
matters which have to go before the Government.
Thus, when the tithes have been assessed, a
document is issued from the proper department
in the head town of the district where the village
is situated, stating the amount demanded from
the people for that year ; but before it can be
collected, the Ikhthjartyah, as these representatives
are called, must put their seals to this document,

6

82 VILLAGE LIFE

showing that they consider it a just assessment,
and pledging themselves to the payment of it.
Should they consider it unjust, they are bound to
refuse to seal it, and sometimes, where this is the
case, they do refuse ; but too often they either lack
the courage to do so or accept a bribe from those
to whose interest it is to put the taxes at a high
figure.

There is also an official known as a Mukhtar,
who has to inform the Government of all births,
deaths, and marriages, in his community ; to collect
taxes from the people ; get passports for any who
may wish to travel ; and, where anyone is arrested,
to try to get him off or find bail for him. Most
of the various religious communities have each a
Mukhtar of their own, or, if they be numerous,
two or more, as every twenty-four families can,
if they so desire, claim to have a Mukhtar to
themselves.

Compulsory military service obtains throughout
the Turkish Empire. Every year a conscription
takes place, when all the able-bodied Mohammedan
males have to draw lots for this purpose. Christians
are not allowed to bear arms, this being one of the
marks of inferiority imposed on them at the time
of the Arab conquest of Palestine. Instead of
military service they have to pay a special tax,
which is levied on all males. The conscription is
hated by the people, who do all they can to evade
it. I have even known of a man cutting off one
of his fingers in order to disqualify himself for
bearing arms, while a young Moslem I know well,

CONSCRIPTION 83

who had his leg amputated, congratulated himself
that now he could not be taken as a soldier. This
compulsory service is a heavy burden to the people.
In the palmy days of Ottoman rule, when the land
was richer and the people more prosperous, it
pressed but lightly on them ; but now it is
very different. The numbers of able-bodied men
taken out of the country, though not, perhaps,
absolutely large, are relatively so. Indeed, in some
cases, as a man once said to me, ' only old men
and boys are left to till the ground.' This is, of
course, not always the case, but only when some
war-scare has led to the calling out of the reserves.
Still, this compulsory military service is a constant
drain on the Moslem population, as many of those
thus taken from their homes never return, and it
is a potent factor in the steady diminution of the
Mohammedans in Palestine and Syria.

One characteristic feature of the village life is
the Sahrah, or 'watching.' If a guest from the
city, or a European stranger, or anyone of con-
sequence, is spending the night in the village, the
people of the place, after the evening meal, will
drop in by ones and twos to the room where he
is staying, whether it be with the sheikh in the
public guest-house or with any one of the villagers.
The outer door of the house is always open, and
the people stroll in as they please, unrebuked. A
dark form fills the doorway, the man pauses for a
moment after he has crossed the threshold to slip
off his shoes, and then advancing into the room,
with a general salute of ' May your evening be

6—2

84 VILLAGE LIFE

prosperous ' or ' God be with you ' if they are
Christians, and ' Peace be upon you ' if Moslems,
he comes up to the principal guest and salutes him,
taking his hand between his two palms and utter-
ing an appropriate greeting. He then salutes the
other guests, if any ; which done, he takes his seat
among those already present, squatting down in
the place due to his social position in the little
community. Others come in in quick succession,
and the room soon fills. The visitor is asked for
the latest items of news from the city. A report
has been spread that the Redif (the reserves) are
to be called out, and, if Moslems, the probabilities
or the reverse of the news being true are
eagerly discussed, the military service being most
unpopular.

The news of the village is retailed, the weather,
the prospects of the harvest, vintage, or olive crop,
discussed, or news of the outside world, as far as it
has reached them, is told or commented on. And
most extraordinary news one hears sometimes !
When King Edward succeeded to the throne, the
wildest stories were current among the Fellahin as
to the part the Sultan had played in securing his
succession ; for they have the most exaggerated
ideas of the power of the Sublime Porte in the
councils of Europe. One version T heard was, that
the English did not wish the Prince of Wales to
succeed Queen Victoria, but that the Sultan put
his foot down and insisted on his being accepted
as King, and that the British nation of course gave
in at once. Another version was, that on Queen

THE SAHRAH 85

Victoria's death the crowned heads of Europe met
to discuss who should succeed her (just as in the case
of the death of one of their village sheikhs), and, on
a difference of opinion arising among them, it was
decided to refer the matter to the Sultan and to
abide by his decision, and that he decided for
King Edward, who was therefore chosen by the
other Sovereigns as the King of Great Britain !
These gatherings are full of interest to a stranger,
as he learns much then of the habits and customs
of the people, while to the missionary they are
invaluable opportunities for delivering his message.

The Fellahin have a great love for their native
place, and think it is a real hardship to have to
settle elsewhere.

As in other parts of the world, there is a
considerable difference in the dialects spoken in
various parts of the country, this difference con-
sisting partly in pronunciation, and partly in the
use of different words, this latter being increased
by the extreme copiousness of the Arabic language,
and by the small amount of communication, till
lately, between the different districts. The towns-
people often laugh at the Fellahin for their pro-
nunciation, and though there are vulgarisms in
this, yet they, too, can turn the tables on the
former, and in the matter of grammar they are,
at times, the more correct of the two. Thus, the
Fellahin very frequently pronounce the Ay//' (or soft
A), as a oh- — ckul-cd-dechacJihi, (all the shops), instead
of kul-cd-dekakrii ; while, on the other hand, the
towns-people will have the very disagreeable habit

«6 VILLAGE LIFE

of dropping the h\f (or hard k) — thus, 'anineh (a
bottle), instead of kanineh; Ya-ub (Jacob), instead
of Yakub. Occasionally a classical word, the mean-
ing of which has been forgotten, is used as a proper
name. Thus, both Tabor and the Mount of Olives
are known locally as Jebel et Tiir (the Hill, or
Mountain, of Tfir), Tur being an archaic word
for hill (the same as ' Taurus,' and our word ' tor,'
used in Cumberland, Westmorland, Derbyshire,
and Devonshire, for a hill*). Those Fellahin
who come much in contact with the Bedouin
usually speak a much purer and more classical
dialect than the others, and also share with them
certain peculiarities of pronunciation. Thus, they
almost invariably pronounce the kdf(k)as a hard
g — gam?-, instead of kamr (the moon) — and the
kaf as cA, thus losing both the k sounds of the
Arabic alphabet. This is especially true of the
Fellahin east of the Jordan.

There are many gipsies in Palestine, who wander
about from village to village, spending their whole
lives in miserable tents. They are divided into
different tribes or clans, each of which keeps to
its own tract of country. They are nominally
Moslem, but what their real religion is no one
seems to know. Of late years the Turkish Govern-
ment has exacted military service from them, as

* There is a curious instance of precisely the same use of a
word of forgotten meaning as a proper name in the North of
England, a hill in the lake district being known as Tor-pen-
how Hill, each of these four words having precisely the same
meaning, but in as many different languages or dialects.

GIPSIES 87

from the Fellahin. The women are inveterate
beggars, and a proverb runs, ' Put a gipsy woman
in a hundred palaces, and she will still beg.' They
have a language of their own, which the Fellahin
contemptuously call Asfureh, or 'sparrows' talk.'
They are on good terms with the peasants, and
are the blacksmiths of the countryside, doing all
the little odd jobs which a village smith would do
in England, but with the most primitive of tools.
I am inclined to think that this was the case in
Jewish times also, and may partly account for the
fact that iron and smiths are so rarely mentioned
in the Old Testament in connection with the
Israelites. It also, I think, throws light on a
rather curious passage. In 1 Sam. xiii. 19 we
read : ■ Now there was no smith found throughout
all the land of Israel ; for the Philistines said, Lest
the Hebrews make them swords or spears.' It is
not said that the Philistines killed all the smiths in
Israel, and, indeed, this would have been impossible,
unless the nation had been brought much lower
than we know to have been the case ; yet the
Israelites seem to have been ignorant of the art of
making these weapons, and to have been deprived
by the action of the Philistines, of those to whom
they would otherwise have gone for swords or
spears.

Had these roving smiths been found then, as
now, the matter would have been simple enough,
as they would have been easily discovered, and by
merely removing them, with their ■ houses of hair '
and other impedimenta, into the Philistines' country,

88 VILLAGE LIFE

the Israelites would have been effectually deprived
of the means of obtaining arms.

At times one meets peasants going about with a
dancing bear, which they make perform for hire.
The bear is the Syrian species from the Lebanon,
smaller in size and lighter in colour than the
European one. Sometimes besides a bear they
have a goat which does climbing tricks.

There are certain men who may be called
1 improvisers,' who go about the country and sing
to the accompaniment of a native violin or some
other instrument. Sometimes two of them will
have a contest of skill, improvising against each
other. There is a famous instance of two such,
one a Maronite and the other a Greek, which I
append.

Says the Maronite :

1 1 am not like other men, nor of an odious creed, nor like
the Greek priest, for whom there is no place in heaven. 1

The Greek replies :

' I am not like other men, nor of a fettered creed, nor like
Mar Martin, binding a clout on his eye C
the allusion being to the Maronite being bound to
Home, and to Martin their patron saint, who is
said to have lost an eye by a blow from the awl of
a cobbler whom he had attacked in controversy.

CHAPTER IV

DOMESTIC LIFE

The infant of a peasant family, when it arrives on
the scene, is, if a boy, heartily welcomed. Even if
a girl the fact is not regretted to the extent it would
be in the case of towns-people, as, if spared to
grow up, a good sum will be received for her at her
marriage. As soon as born, the child is rubbed
all over with salt and oil, and wrapped in old
garments ; on the third day it is again rubbed
with salt and oil, or very frequently with a mixture
of oil and red earth instead. On the seventh day
it has a bath, and from that day till the fortieth it
is washed about once a week. After the fortieth
day, infants are not washed again till they can talk,
the only exception being that the face is sometimes
cleaned with a little milk, but never with water.
Such is the general practice, but it varies a good
deal in different parts of the country.

The swaddling-clothes (St. Luke ii. 7) consist of
several pieces : a tiny shirt, a cap, a little cotton
coat, a long strip of calico which is bound round
and round the child to insure his body, arms, and
legs being perfectly straight and rigid, and over all

89

90 DOMESTIC LIFE

a large square of print or other material in which
the body is ' wrapped ' tightly, and which is secured
by a tape. These clothes are worn till the child is
two or three months old, the length of time being
determined by his size and strength, a small delicate
child being bound up far longer than a large healthy
one.

The peasant women are very strong physically,
and usually work hard up to the time of their con-
finement, and are about again very soon after it,
without in any way suffering from doing so. I re-
member a case of a Moslem woman who supplied us
with milk, walking each day into the city with her
basket of milk -jars on her head, whose child was
born as she was returning one day from her round :
she wrapped the little one in her veil, and walked
home with it as if nothing had happened. In
another similar case, a Christian woman, who had
gone to cut firewood several miles from the village,
returned with a heavy faggot of sticks on her head
and her new-born infant wrapped up in her sleeve.
Village midwives receive but a trifling remuneration,
usually in the form of wheat or some other house-
hold necessary, and only in a few of the more
prosperous villages are they ever paid in money.

Should the father be absent from home at the
time of the child's birth, someone will go to the
town, or wherever he may be working (especially
should it be a first-born and a son), to take the
news. On meeting the father, he greets him with
the words ' El besharah an dak ' (There is good news
at home). The latter, who at once guesses what

THE NAMING OF A CHILD 91

the good news is, replies, ' May God announce
good news to you : I give you so-and-so,' naming
as valuable a present as his circumstances will
permit.

Among the Christian peasantry the next im-
portant matter is the naming of a child. In the
case of the first-born of an eldest son, custom
prescribes the name by which he must be called — ■
viz., that of his paternal grandfather. Thus, if a
man of the name of Musa (Moses) has a son of the
name of Ibrahim (Abraham), the latter will call his
eldest son Musa, after his father. So much is this
the case that sometimes a mere boy is called the
'father of So-and-so,' the name being that of the
son which it is hoped he will one day have, and
which he will, in accordance with this custom, call
by his father's name ;* for when a child is born to
a young couple, they are known thenceforth, not
by their own names, but as the ' father of So-and-
so ' and the ' mother of So-and-so.' Thus, if B-ashid
has a son Towfik, he will no longer be known as
Rashid, nor will his wife, Jamileh, be known by
that name ; but he will be called Abu Towfik
(Father of Towfik), and she will be called Jmm
Towfik (Mother of Towfik). This custom, how-
ever, rather adds to the difficulty of distinguishing-
people in ordinary conversation, as there are, strictly

* This expression has sometimes been differently explained
as an idiom peculiar to the Fellah in, viz., Abu for Abuhu —
i.e., ' father ' instead of ' his father.* 1 Careful inquiry has,
however, convinced me that this is incorrect, the explanation
in the text being the true one.

92 DOMESTIC LIFE

speaking, no surnames in use in Palestine. For
instance, in the two examples given above, Ibrahim
will be in more precise language, as, e.g., in the
address of a letter, Ibrahim Musa — i.e., son of
Miisa ; and Towfik will be Towfik Rashid — i.e.,
son of Rashid ; whereas their eldest sons will be
Miisa Ibrahim, and Rashid Towfik respectively.

On the other hand, besides these appellations,
there is the name of the man's ' house ' or ' clan '
which can be used as a means of further identifying
or distinguishing him. In almost every village
there are two or more of these ' clans ' or ' houses,'
bearing sometimes (as the Scotch clans) a common
name. This name may be derived from that of a
distinguished ancestor, or a place from which they
came originally, or perhaps from some notable
circumstance connected with their history. Thus,
a man can be further described as ' So-and-so, son
of So-and-so of such a house.' This is a common
Oriental expression, and one we find occurring in
the Old Testament, as, for example, Num. xvii. 8,
1 Sam. xxv. 3, 2 Chron. xxii. 9 ; and on the Assyrian
monuments Beit Khumri, House of Omri, is the
usual term for the Kings of Israel.

Of the names in ordinary use a few are peculiar
to Moslems and Christians respectively. Of the
former may be mentioned such as Mohammed and
Mustapha among men's names, and Khadijeh,
Zenab and 'Aysheh among women's ; while of the
latter Bulus and Butrus will serve as instances of
men's, and Maria and Lydia of women's names.
Many of the Mohammedan names are compounds

NAMES 93

of one or other of the ninety-nine names of God, as
Abul-ul-Kadir (Slave of the Almighty), Abd-ur-
Rahmiin (Slave of the Compassionate), and so on.
The great majority of names are common to
Mohammedans and Christians. Many are given
because of their meaning, such as Towfik, fortunate ;
Jamil, handsome ; Anis, sociable ; Zarifeh, beauti-
ful ; Nabihah, intelligent ; and so on. The significa-
tion of some of the compound names is very
beautiful : thus, Lutfallah and Farajallah, both of
which are men's names, mean ' the gentleness of
God ' and ' the rest of God ' respectively ; and
Rahmetallah, a girl's name, ' the mercy of God.'

Among the Moslems there is no special ceremony
connected with the naming of a child. If the
father has no predilection for any particular name,
he goes to the Khatib to consult him about it.
These men have books which give lists of special
names for each day of the week, and the father
selects one of those given for the day on which the
child was born.

The Christians, of course, have their children
baptized, and the rite is usually administered
within forty days after birth. In the Greek
Church the children always have sponsors, and the
difficulty of finding persons willing to take that
office for a child sometimes delays baptism. It is
usual for people to offer to be sponsors, as, owing
to the fact that it is customary for them to make
presents to their godchildren, parents are very
reluctant to ask people to stand. Where persons
have been godparents to a first-born child, it

94 DOMESTIC LIFE

is usual for them to act the same part by all the
subsequent members of the family. Sponsorship is
much thought of (though not from a religious point
of view), and is held to constitute a kind of relation-
ship — so much so that a man's own children may
not intermarry with his godchildren. Baptism in
the Eastern Churches is always by immersion, and
is immediately followed by the Chrism, or anointing
with holy oil, which the Greek Church holds to be
equivalent to the rite of Confirmation in the
Churches of Western Christendom.*

The desire for children, and especially sons, is
intensely strong in the East. For a wife to be
childless is, among the Moslems, ample reason for
divorcing her. This longing is closely connected
with the great aim of all Easterns — viz., ' the
building up of a house' (cf. 2 Sam. vii. 27 and
1 Kings xi. 38). The Arabic words for ' son ' and
4 daughter ' are (as in Hebrew) from the same root
as the ordinary word for ' to build,' children being
looked upon as stones, as it were, in a building.
This feeling has doubtless its origin in the yearning
for immortality which is found in every human
being, and of which what is ordinarily called
ambition is one of the best-known manifestations.
This idea finds expression in many salutations and
phrases used in everyday life. ' May God leave
you your children ' prays the beggar, who hopes
that you will reward his prayer by a gift ; ' May

* Circumcision is universally practised among Moham-
medans. There is no rite connected with it, and no limit of
time within which it must take place.

DESIRE FOR CHILDREN 95

God build your house ' is one of the best blessings
which a grateful recipient of alms can wish the
donor ; ' The safety of your children ' is the ordinary
response to the appropriate salutation at a funeral
or on hearing of a death. The prophet's sentence
upon Agag (1 Sam. xv. 33), 'As thy sword hath
made women childless, so shall thy mother be child-
less among women,' would to an Oriental be the
most righteous, and at the same time the most
terrible retribution, which could follow his crimes.

The people have but little idea of their children's
ages, or of their own, for that matter. Ask an old
man in one of the villages what his age is : ' Well,
I was married the year Ibrahim Pasha took
Palestine,' or, ' My second son was born the year
the cholera came,' will be his answer. Often, when
inquiring how old a child in one of our schools
might be, I have been met with the answer, ' How
can I tell ? You must know, for you baptized him.'
It is true that the Greek Church keeps a kind of
record of baptisms, and that of late years the
Turkish Government has required all births to be
registered ; yet a good deal of laxity prevails about
these matters, more especially in the remoter parts
of the country. If parents know, even approxi-
mately, their children's ages, it arises from the fact
of their having been born in a year when some
event of special interest took place, such as an
outbreak of cholera, an invasion of locusts, or the
like. On one occasion I was staying the night with
a well-to-do peasant in the land of Moab, and in
the course of the evening a neighbour came in to

96 DOMESTIC LIFE

see me. At a break in the conversation, my host
remarked that his eldest son, a well-grown lad who
was present, had been ploughing all day. ' Plough-
ing !' exclaimed the neighbour : ' you shouldn't let
him do such hard work, he's too young for it.'
1 He's not too young : he's sixteen.' ' Sixteen !
Nonsense ! Why, what year was he born V ' I don't
know what year it was, but it was the time the red
donkey died, and that, I'm sure, was sixteen years
ago !'

Women often nurse their children for a very long
time, especially in the case of a first boy or where
the mother has been long married before having a
child. Occasionally under such circumstances a
boy will be nursed for three or four years. This
custom explains how it was that the child Samuel
could be left at Shiloh shortly after his mother
had weaned him (1 Sam. i. 24). When a child is
weaned, they sometimes cook wheat, lentils, beans,
and such-like, put sweetmeats on it, and send dishes
of it to friends to commemorate the event. In like
manner the Christians at the baptism of a boy
commonly make a feast, inviting the friends and
neighbours and officiating priest. #

Like children all the world over, those of Pales-
tine, as soon as they can run about, imitate the
doings of their elders : make mud houses, toy ovens,
and copy their mothers at work in the house. The
boys have certain games which they play with zest,
though not with the energy and precision of English

* The Moslems occasionally do the same at the circum-
cision of a child.

GAMES 97

boys. One of these games somewhat resembles our
hockey, being played with a ball made of rags,
about the size of a tennis-ball, and curved sticks.
It is called Kdr, and is played chiefly in the winter.
A level piece of ground is selected, and a hole called
'the mother' is made in the centre. One boy
guards this hole, the others endeavouring to knock
the ball into it, and he trying to prevent this. It is
a most exciting game judged by the shouts of the
players. Another and milder amusement is played
by three or four boys at a time. Each boy has
several little darts or arrows which are thick, heavy,
sharp- pointed, and feathered with pieces of paper.
A player throws one of these darts so as to make it
stick upright in the ground ; the next one tries to
throw his arrow across the first in such a way
as to knock it over, and at the same time take an
upright position like that of the first one. If he
is successful in this, he takes the other player's
arrow. This game is confined to the winter and
spring, as it can only be played while the ground
is soft.

A third game called Mankalch is played by men
as well as boys, and has a tremendous fascination
for the people. It is played on a board with four
rows of holes, each row having eight holes. Small
stones are used, each player having a certain
number, which are distributed according to rule in
the holes, and the game consists in getting all the
opponents' pieces. It appears to be a very compli-
cated game, and I have never had time to master

7

98 DOMESTIC LIFE

the rules. It is played with great zest, and some
men waste much time over it. #

In addition to their games, the boys make slings
with which they hurl stones to a considerable dis-
tance. Some are very clever at this pastime, and a
strong lad can send one with tremendous force, and
a whiz almost like that of a rifle bullet ; so that, after
seeing them engaged in this amusement, one can
well understand how formidable a weapon a sling
would be in the hands of a powerful man of skilful
aim, especially before the invention of firearms,
when fighting was at close quarters, if not actually
hand-to-hand. The slings are made of coarse
woollen string, with a sort of bag in the centre to
hold the stone.

The boys also make little bird-traps of one or
two twigs and a piece of string. They are baited
with a berry, or some other food, and just laid on the
ground in the haunts of the birds. With the same
object they make limed twigs from mulberry and
other trees by heating the young shoots over a fire.

Gambling is strictly forbidden to Moslems, and is
looked upon by all classes and creeds as very wrong,
and any game which is in any way associated with
that vice is entirely avoided by respectable people.

Education is making great strides among the

* This game is spread widely throughout the East. At
Zanzibar, and along the eastern coast of Africa, where it is
known by the name of Bao, it is much played ; while in
Uganda, where it has probably been introduced by the Arab
traders, and is called Mzveso, I have seen the natives spend
hours over it at one sitting.

EDUCATION 99

peasantry. The late Bishop Gobat, on his appoint-
ment to the English bishopric in Jerusalem in 1849,
found that there were practically no schools at all
for the Arabic-speaking population, and the means
which he then took to supply the deficiency have
been the origin of all the educational work now
being carried on, as they aroused, first the Oriental
Churches, and then the Turkish Government, to
provide schools for the different sections of the
community. Now, throughout the villages and
hamlets, schools have been opened in all but the
very small places, and teachers appointed, in the
case of the Christians by the various Churches to
which they belong, and in the case of the Moslems
by the Ottoman Government. In the latter a
fairly strict watch is now kept on the attendance of
the boys, the parents being fined if the children are
not regular. For the girls, however, there is little
or no provision apart from the mission schools.
Among the Mohammedans the teacher is frequently
also the Khatib, a religious instructor, who is either
in receipt of a fixed salary from the Government,
or, by the orders of the latter, receives a certain
amount (generally in grain) from each family. This
last arrangement, however, as far as I know, only
obtains in the smaller hamlets. He also some-
times combines other occupations with that of
pedagogue ; thus, in one village I know he is also
village carpenter, making and mending ploughs,
and other agricultural implements, in the courtyard
of the little village mosque, while teaching his
youthful scholars their letters or the Koran.

100 DOMESTIC LIFE

The early age at which the children begin to
work sadly interferes with their acquiring more
than an elementary knowledge of the three R's.
The boys generally begin when very small by
helping in specially busy times, such as harvest,
when they drive the grain-laden animals from the
field to the threshing-floor; or in the olive-gathering,
when they pick up the fallen berries under the
trees. When somewhat older they will be trusted
to take the kids and lambs out to graze near the
village, or they may go with their fathers to the
city, driving donkeys laden with corn, wood, etc.,
to sell there. Gradually harder work is given
them till that of a full-grown man is reached.

The girls begin, if anything, earlier than the
boys, often helping at harvest and olive -gathering
as they do, besides which they very soon assist
their mothers in the house-work, fetching water
and wood, baking, cooking, cleaning the corn, and
doing other things that fall to the lot of the women.
It is found by experience that unless the girls begin
early to accustom themselves to carry the heavy
weights, such as wood, water, etc., which are always
borne on the head, and the carrying of which forms
part of a woman's ordinary work, they never can
acquire the necessary strength and skill to do so.
This is one of the many practical problems to be
solved by those who wish to raise the peasant
women of Palestine, and to give them such an
education as will fit them to be the helpmeets of
the rising generation of more educated men.

The Fellahin have wonderful power of memory,

POWERS OF MEMORY 101

due largely, no doubt, to the fact that for centuries
they have had solely to rely on their memories, as,
being unable to read or write, they have had no
extraneous aids. The children have a remarkable
faculty for learning things by heart, even without
understanding them. They are very quick in
acquiring a knowledge of foreign languages,
especially where these are spoken at all in the
place where they live.* This, I think, throws
light on the much-debated question of what
language our Blessed Lord spoke. In a place
like Nazareth, so near to, if not actually on, one
of the great highroads of Western Asia, He would
have frequent opportunities of hearing at least one
foreign language (Greek) spoken. In the home of
the humble carpenter, Aramaic, or whatever the
Semitic language then spoken in Palestine be
called, would be that ordinarily used, but in the
workshop and the market-place Greek would be as
often heard as the other. My own view is that
He was as much at home in the one as in the
other (the same being true, probably, of all the
Galilean Apostles), but that, in hours of intensest
feeling, the words which — we may say it with all
reverence — would naturally come to His lips were

* The case of a Syrian servant we once had illustrates,
though from another nation, this facility of acquiring lan-
guages. She was a peasant from a village in Mesopotamia,
a woman of no intellectual power whatever, and of very little
education ; yet she could speak five Oriental languages,
appearing equally at home in every one, and could read two
of them.

102 DOMESTIC LIFE

those of the tongue which in childhood were learnt
from the lips of the Virgin Mother.

From some points of view the family life (not
home life as we understand it, of which there is
very little) is much more developed than with us.
Thus, if a man has several grown-up sons, all will
often live together. They all till the land together,
and take their share of looking after the goats and
sheep. Their interests are all one, and during the
father's lifetime no son would have anything of his
own, nor would he claim any share of the property
or money. Even when one or more of the sons
marry, they do not go away ; the father builds a
room for the newly-married couple by the side of
or on the roof of his own, another being added for
each son as he marries — the family thus living and
working as one. Sometimes a father, who is getting
old and finds himself unable to do his part in tilling
the ground, will occasionally himself divide his land
among his sons, who for the remainder of his life
share in supporting him in an honourable inde-
pendence. Of course, after a time some have to
hive off if the family grows numerous, and, owing
to the increasing poverty of the people, they drift
to the towns to find work, while many have
emigrated, more particularly to Egypt and North
and South America. The people of Bethlehem,
who are particularly enterprising, are remarkable
for this spirit of emigration, and there are little
colonies of them to be found, not only in America,
but also in Hayti, Australia, East Africa, and other
lands.

DEGRADATION OF WOMEN 103

The degraded position of woman in Moslem
lands is too well known to need any detailed
statement, and in Palestine it is neither better nor
worse than in most places where Islam holds sway.
The condition of the Moslem Felahah, or peasant
woman, is, however, as a rule decidedly less irksome
than that of her town sister. With the exception
of those living in the extreme South, on the borders
of the Egyptian frontier, and of the Baraghafeh
(previously mentioned), the peasant women are
always unveiled. They are much more the equals
of their husbands than is the case with the towns-
people. The latter often know nothing whatever
about their husband's concerns, being shut up in
the Harim, or women's quarters, all day, or only
going out to see other women similarly circum-
stanced. They are the toys, drudges, slaves,
chattels, of their husbands, never his companions
or equals. It is otherwise with the country-woman ;
the very conditions of her life compel her to be
more to her husband than the towns-woman. She
knows all about his work, suffers in his losses,
rejoices in his gains ; she helps to till the soil,
gather in the harvest, and sell the produce of the
land in the towns ; occasionally, even, she rules
the whole family. Still, when all is said and done,
the position of woman among Mohammedans is a
fearfully low one ; she is looked upon as hardly a
human being, soundly thrashed whenever she dis-
pleases her lord and master, and is liable to be
divorced any moment, or superseded by a younger
and better-looking wife, at his mere caprice.

104 DOMESTIC LIFE

There is a curious expression — ' Far be it from
you ' — used by the Arabs when speaking of any-
thing not very nice. Thus, a man was once
describing to me one of the old Roman bridges
over the Jordan, and enlarging on the traffic which
crossed it, ' thousands of camels, tens of thousands
of sheep, and, far be it from you, quantities of pigs.'
Sometimes in a Moslem village a man has come to
me saying, ' Will you give me some medicine for a
sick person V ' Do you want it for yourself V * No ;
for someone else.' ' For a child V ' No ; far be it
from you, for my wife !'

The real cause of the degradation of woman is
the permission given by the Mohammedan law to
polygamy, and as long as the practice has the
sanction of religion, so long must woman be kept
down. On the other hand, one great reason of the
comparatively favourable condition of the peasant
women is that polygamy is much less common in
the villages than in the towns. This is chiefly due
to the poverty of the people, as but few can afford
to pay the dowry of more than one wife ; indeed,
an increasing number of young men are from this
cause unable to marry at all. Even the Moslems
are alive to the fact that polygamy is a fruitful
source of trouble and sorrow in families. Says
one of their proverbs, ' Two logs on the hearth and
two wives in a house ' — that is, keep up the fire
which would go out were there only one ; while a
second runs, ' One wife in a house builds it up, a
second pulls it down, and a third is all that is vile.'

Though what has been said above refers to the

DIVORCE 105

Moslem women, and though, of course, the con-
dition of Christians is in many ways much better,
yet the whole attitude of the men towards women
is that of a superior to a greatly inferior race, and
it is impossible but that the degradation of the vast
majority of the women of a country, especially
where they are of the dominant religion, must
affect injuriously the position of woman generally
throughout the country.

It is only right to add that, while Mohammedan
law gives the utmost facility to divorce, there are
various circumstances which tend to check it,
such as the fear of offending the wife's relations,
especially if she belong to an influential family.*
Occasionally, too, there is real affection between
husband and wife. I knew of a case where a
Moslem peasant became a leper, and his wife's
friends repeatedly urged her to leave him ; but she
persistently refused, saying that he had always
been a good husband to her, and that she would
not desert him in his trouble. She remained with
him, and carefully tended him, till his death. This
was all the more remarkable as not only the
Mohammedans, but also the Greeks, consider that
when a married person becomes a leper the
marriage bond is ipso facto dissolved, and the latter

* Among the very few really aristocratic Moslem families
of Jerusalem there exists a kind of code of honour which
forbids them to have more than one wife or to divorce her,
and I have reason to believe that this is strictly observed
even where the woman is childless. Of course this does not
affect the question of female slaves.

106 DOMESTIC LIFE

allows the other partner to marry again, even while
the leprous wife or husband is still living.

Divorce is allowed by the Greek Church, but, as
far as I know, by none of the other Oriental com-
munions found in Palestine. There are various
restrictions in the Greek canon law on the subject,
which are intended to safeguard it, but as a
matter of fact there is no great difficulty in any-
one obtaining a divorce, and T have known several
cases of people being remarried even without that
formality.

CHAPTER V

domestic life {continued).

When the son or daughter of a family approaches
a marriageable age, the parents begin to set about
the all -important business of finding a suitable
bride or bridegroom. The matter is almost in-
variably arranged by the parents, the young people
having no voice in the matter ; indeed, it would
not be considered proper for a young woman to
have any say in the matter, or to express a
preference for one suitor over another. The only
exception to this rule would be in the case of a
man who, from poverty, had been unable to marry
till he reached middle life, or who had no male
relations to arrange the matter for him.

Where the father is dead, the eldest brother,
or, failing a brother, the nearest male relation,
has the disposal of a girl's hand. In the Greek
Church the prohibited degrees (within which
relations may not marry) are much wider than
in the Churches of Western Christendom, ex-
tending to cousins several times removed, and
even to one or two cases where there is no blood
relationship at all. But outside these prohibited

107

108 DOMESTIC LIFE

degrees relations or persons of the same house or
clan are held to have a first claim on a girl's hand,
and it would sometimes lead to serious quarrels,
and even to possible bloodshed, were this claim
ignored. The origin of this custom is probably
the idea underlying certain enactments of the
Mosaic law — viz., the retention of property in the
clan or tribe (cf. Num. xxxvi. 1-12).

The preliminary negotiations are sometimes very
lengthy. If a man wishes to get a bride for his
son from another family or village, he will not un-
frequently employ one or more intermediaries to
arrange the matter. These intermediaries will go
to the house of the girl in question at a time when
some of the men of the family are sure to be at
home. They will stand about the door till the
latter notice them, and invite them in, according
to Eastern custom, with the word TaffadhlCi
(literally, ' do me the honour '). They will then
reply, ' We will not enter unless our request is
granted.' " It is granted,' reply those within ;
whereon the men enter. When they are seated,
the question is not immediately mentioned, but
when the customary coffee appears they say,
' We will not drink till we have told our errand.'
' Speak,' reply the hosts. ' We ask your daughter
So-and-so as wife to So-and-so,' say the guests.
Sometimes, if the match be manifestly an advan-
tageous one for the girl, the relations say, ' We
agree ; take her.' More often, while agreeing, they
require time to arrange preliminaries ; and even if
the proposal be unacceptable, it is, I believe, rarely

BETROTHAL 10<)

if ever met by a direct refusal ; but in the subse-
quent negotiations some condition impossible of
fulfilment, such as an exorbitant dowry, is required,
which puts an end to the matter.

The preliminaries having been satisfactorily
settled, the betrothal takes place. Among the
Christians this is a formal public announcement
of the intended marriage. Friends and relations
attend, and the priest comes and blesses the
betrothed couple, the betrothal, in fact, being a
religious ceremony. It is consequently very rare
for a match to be broken off when once this
ceremony has taken place. It may be considered
as the Eastern substitute for the publication of
banns, these being unknown in the Oriental
Churches, and the wedding may take place any day
after the betrothal. The betrothal may, on the
other hand, be an informal one in infancy, and I
have known children to be plighted to each other
in their cradles by their parents, and the promise
thus made to be carried out when they grew up.

In most cases the girls are virtually sold by their
parents, the dowry going to the father, and it is
this which makes the birth of a girl so much
more welcome among the Fellahm than among
the towns-people, where the dowry does not go to
the parents. Considerable sums are paid for girls
who are good-looking, well connected, or clever at
any of the Fellahm industries. Thus, the people
of the village of El Jib (the ancient Gibeon), near
Jerusalem, have a monopoly of the manufacture of
a kind of earthenware cooking-pot. The work is

110 DOMESTIC LIFE

largely done by the women, and a girl who is clever
at this will fetch a dowry of seventy or eighty
Napoleons (£50 to £60), while another, who has
only ordinary abilities, can be had for half that
sum. As a rule, the bridegroom has to borrow
money for the dowry and wedding expenses, and
many men thus saddle themselves with debts which
are a burden to them for the rest of their lives. In
cases where a man has little or no money, or his
credit is not good enough to enable him to borrow
sufficient to pay the dowry of an unmarried girl, he
will marry a widow, as a much smaller sum is
required in such cases, especially if she have
children.

Another device is not unfrequently resorted to
by poor people. Yakub, for instance, wants to
marry, but has no prospect whatever of raising
even a moderate sum of money. He has, however,
an unmarried sister, Latifeh, so he looks about for
a family similarly circumstanced to his own, and
finds another man, Salameh, who is also desirous of
entering the married state, but who, like Yakub, is
too poor to do so. He, too, has an unmarried sister,
Zarifeh, and so an exchange is arranged between
the two families, Yakub marrying Zarifeh, and
Salameh Latifeh, no dowry being paid on either
side.

On the day of the wedding, if the bride lives at a
different village to the bridegroom, the villagers go
in great pomp, especially if the two parties belong-
to influential families, to escort her to the bride-
groom's house. Every man who owns or can

WEDDING PROCESSIONS 111

boiTOW a horse rides it and gallops wildly about.
There is a great expenditure of gunpowder on such
occasions, and curious old-fashioned weapons of
every country of Europe, and of almost every
period since the invention of gunpowder, are
hunted out and fired off at frequent intervals, so
that at a distance a Westerner, hearing a wedding-
procession for the first time, might think that a
miniature battle was in progress. The people when
using modern weapons are not always careful to
make sure that they have only blank cartridges.
On one occasion I was riding along the road from
Bethany to Jerusalem as a wedding-procession was
making its way down the Valley of Jehoshaphat to
the village of Siloam. The usual firing was going
on, and a bullet from a rifle whistled just over my
head ; and not very long ago, in a Christian village
near Jerusalem, a young man standing at his house
door to watch such a procession was accidentally
shot dead by one of the party.

Weddings very commonly take place at night
(see St. Matt. xxv. 1-13), both in the case of
Christians and Moslems. The wedding-ceremony
is, of course, where they are Christians, according
to the rites of the Church to which they belong.
Before this takes place the bridegroom is frequently
placed on a horse and escorted round the village by
his friends. At the ceremony the bride is closely
veiled, no one being allowed to see her face.

In the case of Moslem weddings, all preliminaries
having been finished, three witnesses go to the
house of the bride's father : the latter then asks the

112 DOMESTIC LIFE

girl before the witnesses, ■ Whom do you make
your representative in the matter of your marriage ?'
To which she replies, ' You, father.' This question
is thus asked and answered three times. The father
and witnesses then proceed to the house of the
Khatib, when the latter asks the father, ' Whom do
you make your agent (or representative) in the
matter of your daughter's marriage V You,'
answers the man. This is also asked three times.
They all then go to the bridegroom's house, and
the latter stands, hand in hand with the father,
before the Khatib. The Khatib first addresses
the father and asks him thrice, ' Have you,
Mohammed, given Fatimeh, the daughter of
Mohammed, to Mustapha to be her lawful husband
according to the belief of Abu Hanifeh ?' The
father, each time the question is asked, replies,
1 1 have given her.' Then, turning to the bride-
groom, the Khatib says, ' Have you, Mustapha,
taken Fatimeh, the daughter of Mohammed, to be
her lawful husband according to the belief of Abu
Hanifeh ?' This is also asked thrice, the bridegroom
each time replying, * I have taken her.' The Khatib
then reads the Fatihah, or opening chapter of the
Koran, and the ceremony is over.

A feast generally takes place on the evening of
the wedding, and the invited guests have to bring
presents ; a list of these and of their value is
made, and when there is a wedding in the family
of any of the donors, the bridegroom of this occasion
has to give a present of similar value.

The women of the village gather at the house

MARRIAGE CUSTOMS 113

where the wedding takes place, and dance. This is
scarcely what we understand by the term, but it
has a great fascination for the Fellahat, and many
of them will neglect everything for it when there
happens to be a wedding going on. 1 need hardly
say that the promiscuous dancing of Europe is
quite unknown in Palestine, and would be con-
sidered, to say the least, highly improper. The
men and women form different groups, and the
dances consist of rhythmical movements of the
body by each dancer, singly or holding each
others' hands ; this accompanied by clapping of
hands and singing, which latter consists of the
constant repetition on one or two notes of a few
words, often foolish, and sometimes worse. At
a wedding I once witnessed in a village, the
dancers, for half an hour or more, repeated without
intermission the words, ■ Oh, coffee-maker, put up
your cups and coffee.' I have also seen a kind of
sword-dance performed at a wedding. In this case
a large fire was lighted at night in the centre of an
open space in the village. All the people were
gathered in a wide ring round the fire, and in the
space between, a sister of the bride, gorgeously
dressed, performed a dance, holding a drawn
sword in one hand, and posturing and side-
ling about in stiff, ungraceful attitudes, the men
accompanying her movements with hand-clapping
and shouting. Occasionally, I believe, the bride
herself will come out and dance, but I have never
myself seen this done. I have, however, seen a
sort of effigy of the bride called Zarufe/i, consisting

8

114 DOMESTIC LIFE

of some of her clothes stuffed with straw in the
form of a person, fastened to a pole, and carried by
a man who makes it appear to dance in the midst
of the wedding-guests.

AVhen the bride comes to her husband's house,
she has, before entering, to place a piece of leavened
dough on the doorpost. This act is a wish that
as the leaven placed in a mass of dough increases
till the whole of the mass is leavened, so she may
have a numerous family, and by her the clan may
grow and be increased. With the same idea she
must go early the following morning and draw water,
wearing under the outer garment a white garment
with the edge frayed out, the many threads typify-
ing a numerous posterity. Another custom is that
of placing on the bride's head a jar of water, which
she is to carry thus into the house, the idea being,
probably, that of doing her part of the household
work. If she be too tall to pass under the doorway
with the jar on her head, an egg is substituted for it.

A bride is often carried over the threshold that
her feet may not touch it, to do so being considered
unlucky.

It is said that as a Druze bride enters her hus-
band's door he gives her a smart blow with a stick,
to show that she is under his rule and authority.

In some parts of the country neither bride nor
bridegroom may cross a stream for a period of
seven days after the wedding, as this would be
most unlucky, and would mean the cutting off of
the succession, the Arabic idiom for crossing a
stream being that of cutting it.

TATTOOING 115

There are various superstitions connected with
weddings. Thus, among Moslems the marriage
ceremony is conducted very quietly, and in the
presence of as few people as possible, as, if anyone
should be there who is unfavourable to the match,
it is thought that he has the power to hinder the
happiness of the married couple by various acts.
Thus, smoking during the ceremony is considered
to destroy all happiness, and strewing flour or
earth on the floor at the time buries it completely.

Sometimes at the last moment the parents or re-
lations will change their minds, and give the girl to
some other man than the one she had been betrothed
to. Thus one of their proverbs runs, ' The bride is
in her chamber, but no one knows whose she will
be ' ; and another is, ' One was betrothed to her, but
the other married her.' I knew of a case where a
young couple were betrothed to each other and
everything was settled : the marriage-day came,
and all was in readiness, and just before the time
for the ceremony to take place the bridegroom,
according to a common custom, went to have a
bath. When he came to the house, he found that
during the short time he had been absent the
father had changed his mind, and had already
married the bride to another man. Such actions,
however, are considered rather a disgrace, and in
some cases will lead to serious quarrels, and even
to bloodshed.

Many of the women are extensively tattooed in
various patterns on the back of the hand, wrist,
forearm, upper part of the chest, and face ;

8—2

116 DOMESTIC LIFE

especially is this the case among the women east
of the Jordan. Some of them even tattoo their
lips, but this disfiguring custom is, as far as I
know, confined entirely to the Moslem women.
It is only those with fairer skins than the others
who do this, the idea being that it shows up the
clearness and whiteness of the complexion, thus
enhancing their beauty. Some of the patterns are
very elaborate, and must take a long time to do.
The tattooing is usually done by gipsy women, who
use ordinary ink to rub into the pattern, which is
of permanent dark blue. Although chiefly seen in
the case of women, it is not by any means confined
to them.

The life of a newly-married girl, where families
live together, is often a very hard one. She is
usually in such cases little else than the slave of
her mother-in-law, and this is a frequent cause of
quarrels and unhappiness, especially, perhaps, among
the Christians. There is usually but little love
between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and
the former often behave most tyrannically towards
their sons' wives, remembering, no doubt, what
they suffered in their early married life, just as the
former slave makes the most cruel slave-driver.
This is reflected in their proverbs ; one of these, in
which the mother-in-law is supposed to address her
daughter-in-law, runs, ' Don't eat what is broken
nor break what is whole, and eat till you are
satisfied '; while another declares that ' were the
mother-in-law to love her daughter-in-law, dogs
would enter Paradise.'

CHAPTER VI

domestic life (continued)

The life of the women is not an easy one, and
their work begins when they are quite young. In
the early morning a woman rises to grind the corn
for the day's supply of bread, and the grinding
goes on at intervals throughout the day. This
work is very severe, especially where there are
many mouths to feed, and in the villages one hears
the hum of the millstones early in the morning,
long before daybreak, and far on into the night
also. A strong woman once told me that it took
her five hours every day to grind the corn for her
family, which was not a particularly large one.
This hum of the millstones is exceedingly character-
istic of the villages, so much so that the Fellahin
have a special word for it. There are allusions
to it both in the Old and New Testaments ; thus,
the sound of the grinding being low would be an
indication of weakness and old age (Eccles. xii. 4) ;
while to an Oriental no more striking figure of
absolute desolation could be imagined than that
1 the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more
at all in thee' (Rev. xviii. 22).

117

118 DOMESTIC LIFE

The hand-mills which are used for this purpose
have two flat circular stones, the upper and the
nether millstones. These stones are made of a
hard black basalt which is brought from the
volcanic district of the Lejah (Trachonitis), near
the borders of the Hauran, the ancient Bashan.
They are from 15 to 18 inches in diameter and
very heavy. The lower stone has a small hole in
the centre into which a wooden plug is firmly
driven, and in this plug an iron pin is fixed, to
serve as a pivot, on which the upper stone turns.
This latter has an aperture of two or three inches
in the middle, and across this a piece of hard wood
is fixed by means of a slot in the upper surface
of the stone, a hole in it admitting the above-
mentioned pivot. A small space is thus left on
either side of this piece of wood, through which
the corn is fed. Near the edge of the upper stone
is fixed the wooden handle by which the mill is
turned. Sometimes the lower stone is bedded in
an oblong clay vessel, one half of which is lower
than the other, the millstones occupying the upper
part, the lower being a receptacle for the flour.
Where this is not used, a cloth is spread on the
ground, and on th ; s the mill is placed, the flour
gradually collecting in a ring round it.

In grinding, the woman sits on the floor with
outstretched feet, and the mill between her knees ;
she has a basket of corn beside her, and, as she
turns the handle, puts at intervals a handful of
grain into the hole of the upper stone, generally
crooning a mournful song as she works. A second

WOMEN SIFTING CORN.

WOMEN GRINDING

Tofacepagi lis.

BREAD-MAKING 119

woman often helps, squatting on the ground
opposite her companion, and turning the handle at
the same time. This helps one to realize the
startling suddenness of the call (St. Matt. xxiv. 41)
when, of two thus sitting face to face over the
same household task, hand touching hand, one will
be gone and the other left alone.

We see the humanity of the prohibition (Deut.
xxiv. 6) of taking a millstone to pledge, when we
realize that the poorest family must have a mill,
with whatever else of household furniture they
may dispense, and that the loss of it would be
practically starvation.

When sufficient flour has been ground, the opera-
tion of bread-making follows. The meal is often,
but not invariably, passed through a sieve ; it is then
mixed with salt and water, and kneaded into a some-
what stiff dough, in which state it is taken to the
oven in a wooden bowl. Leaven (yeast is unknown)
is occasionally used, and in that case the dough
has to be made some hours beforehand, to allow it
to rise. The leaven, which is in the form of a
piece of sour or fermented dough from a previous
baking, is kneaded into the fresh material, which
is placed in a warm corner, and the whole is ere
long leavened.

The oven in the villages consists of a dome-shaped
clay vessel, three or four feet in diameter, open at
its broad end, and having a hole in the centre of
the dome large enough to easily admit a woman's
hand and arm. It might be compared to a very
large, shallow, inverted basin, with the bottom

120 DOMESTIC LIFE

knocked out. This is placed on a pavement of
small stones, and has a lid to cover the aperture
while the bread is baking. This oven is made in a
small hut built for the purpose, seven or eight feet
in diameter, and about five or six feet high in the
middle. These ovens are a favourite meeting-place
for the women of the village in cold or wet weather,
and at such times they will often spend hours there.

When the fire has been lit, and the oven is
warm enough, the dough is made into flat cakes
about the size of a dinner-plate, and about half an
inch thick ; it is then laid on the paved floor of the
oven or made to adhere to the clay vessel, being
turned when sufficiently done on one side.

The fire is made outside the oven, and when the
dough has been placed inside the lid is put on, and
the ashes heaped up over it to keep in the warmth,
and to allow the fuel to smoulder, a gentle sustained
heat being the best for the purpose.

The fuel consists chiefly of dried cows' and goats'
dung, which is carefully collected and stored for
the purpose. The use of this fuel is of very ancient
origin, as we see from Ezek. iv. 12, and the custom
in Palestine to-day shows how the prophet would
understand the command. Sometimes this fuel is
used in its natural condition, but it is generally
prepared by being moistened with water, mixed
with straw, and made into cakes, which are dried
and stored for winter use. For this purpose they
employ the coarser parts of the straw from the
threshing-floors, viz., the joints and lower parts of
the stalks.

BREAD-BAKING 121

It is usual at the present day for several families
to share an oven, each one providing the fuel for a
day in turn. The reason of this is the poverty of
the people, and their consequent inability to get
fuel. Four or five families usually join together
now, and for ten women to bake their bread in one
oven (Lev. xxvi. 26) would be an indication of
abject poverty. There is a regular rotation in the
use of the oven, the woman whose turn it is to
provide the fuel being the last to bake her bread
on that particular day. The idea in this is that
if she used the oven earlier, she would, her own
baking finished, in order to save her fuel, let
the fire get too low to do the rest of the bread
properly, whereas, baking last of all, it is to her
interest to keep up a good fire to the end. In cases
where a man is sufficiently well off to own a number
of cattle, and has, consequently, plenty of fuel, he
will have an oven to himself.

In some parts of the country another kind of
bread is made, closely resembling the thin oatcake
of Scotland and the North of England. This is
prepared somewhat differently from the other ; the
dough is less tenacious, and it is baked, not in an
oven, but on a convex circular plate of iron, heated
by a fire of sticks below. The large thin sheets of
dough are laid for a few moments on this pan, and
very quickly cooked.

Bread is usually made of wheat flour, but failing
this the poor often use that made from the white
millet, and even from barley, or they mix herbs and
other things with it in times of scarcity.

122 DOMESTIC LIFE

Bread constitutes the chief food of the people,
being eaten either alone, as in the case of the very-
poor, or with a few figs, olives, or some other relish,
in other cases.

A great many wild plants are eaten, which the
poor dig up in the fields in the spring ; the mallow
is the principal of these, as it was in the time of
Job, 3,500 years ago (Job xxx. 4). I have, indeed,
known of a whole family, in a time of great scarcity
and poverty, subsisting for many weeks on mallows
alone. They are cut off at the roots and boiled.
They are also mixed with flour to eke out the
latter, and baked into bread.

Among the more sedentary occupations of the
women is that of cleaning the corn. The various
processes described under threshing and winnowing
leave a good deal of rubbish mixed up with the grain,
such as tiny stones and hard nodules of earth from
the threshing-floor, seeds of weeds and other plants,
and light and undeveloped grain, all of which have
to be carefully separated from the corn before it
can be ground. This is partly done by a sieve,
which allows the smaller impurities to pass through,
but the larger foreign bodies have to be picked out
by hand or removed by sifting. This is effected
by shaking the sieve with a peculiar circular motion,
which gradually collects the light grains, bits of
straw, seeds, etc., to one spot at the side furthest
from the woman holding it, when by a dexterous
jerk they are all thrown out, and the corn left
clean. The reference in Amos ix. 9 is to this
cleansing process, whereas in St. Luke xxii. 31 the

THE HOUSEWIFE'S DUTIES 123

sifting was to be that of temptation, which Satan
hoped would prove the Apostles to be but light
grain, and therefore rejected.

After the grinding of the corn is over, other
domestic duties will claim the housewife's attention ;
one of these is washing the family clothes. This, in
order to save the trouble of fetching water, is gener-
ally done at the spring or near the well. Cold water
is almost invariably employed by the peasants, and in
the winter and spring they often take advantage of
pools left by the rain in various spots, to get rid of
arrears of washing. On such occasions they generally
go in considerable numbers, and a great deal of gossip
and scandal goes on, if we judge by the proverb : ' It
is better to sit between two funerals than between
two washerwomen.'

Soap is but sparingly used, wood ashes, a kind ot
sandy clay, and sometimes the maiden-hair fern,
which is very abundant in damp places, taking its
place very largely. The wet garments are also
beaten well with a heavy piece of wood, a process
which drives the water forcibly through the pores
of the material, and no doubt aids considerably in
the cleansing process.

Matches are pretty generally used now by the
people for obtaining a light, but flint and steel are
still by no means uncommon, and are frequently
used by men for producing fire for their pipes.
The first matches were brought to the village of
Bir Zeit, already mentioned, many years ago by a
young man. He had had occasion to go to Lydd
in the maritime plain, and in the market there

124 DOMESTIC LIFE

saw matches for the first time. They were then
sold singly, or two for a small coin in value rather
less than a farthing ; so the young man invested in
eight of them, and the next day, on his return
home, he gathered all the men of the village in the
evening in the guest-house, and having told them
about the matches, he produced the eight, and
solemnly struck them one after another in their
presence, to their great surprise and wonder.

As a rule the women cook pretty well, consider-
ing the roughness and fewness of their utensils.
The Fellahin have ordinarily only one regular meal
in the day — viz., that in the evening. If food is
taken at other times, it is a piece of bread only, a
few figs, a bunch of grapes, or a cup of coffee.
They have no meal corresponding to our break-
fast, and often go to their day's work without eating
anything ; this fact will explain our Blessed Lord's
hunger when, after, perhaps, a night spent in prayer,
He sought fruit on the barren fig-tree, although
He had just come from the house of the hospitable
Martha (St. Matt. xxi. 17-19). 1 was riding out
one afternoon to a village, several hours' journey from
Jerusalem, and about halfway overtook a peasant.
After a little conversation, he asked me if I had
any bread with me, as he had walked into the city
that morning from a place some twenty-five miles
distant, had transacted his business there, and had
now got about halfway back, no food having passed
his lips since his supper the previous evening.

As the afternoon begins to wane, the Fellahah
will begin her preparations for the evening meal.

DIET 125

If the family be well enough off to have rice, or
if guests be expected, she will take two or three
handfuls of that grain from the jar in which it is
stored, and, after carefully washing it, will place it
in a tinned copper vessel without handles, and set
it to cook over a fire of sticks between two stones
in a corner of the courtyard of the house, or, if
the weather be wet, over a small fire of char-
coal in a little clay brazier inside the house.
Perhaps some meat, with tomatoes, onions, or other
vegetables, will be set on to cook in another pot,
or the vegetables alone ; for every family, however
poor, tries to have a little ' cooking ' for the evening
meal — that is, a hot dish, even if only boiled vege-
tables or herbs, into which to dip the dry bread.
Lentils are a very favourite article of diet, and
where people are too poor to get meat for a festival,
or other occasion of rejoicing, they at least try to
have a dish of this vegetable. The meat is usually
boiled, but sometimes at a feast they roast it ;
fowls, too, are occasionally split open and roasted
in the oven where the bread is baked.

The supper is eaten soon after sunset, all those
present partaking together, if not too many to do
so at one time, but if too numerous they do so in
relays. When the food is ready, if there are many
people, a large bowl or dish is filled with Bti/rghal
(cracked wheat) or boiled rice, should the family
be comfortably off ; the meat, if any, is placed on
the rice, and the gravy, in which there is always
salt, is poured over it, or placed in small bowls for
the people to help themselves as they please. If

126 DOMESTIC LIFE

there be no meat, Lcbcn (sour milk) or boiled vege-
tables are served in separate vessels with it, to
moisten and give a flavour to the rice. At a feast
both meat and vegetables will be used.

The tray or dish is placed in the middle of the
floor, and loaves of bread are put round it. Having
previously washed their hands, the guests, or
members of the family, squat round the bowl, and
as they plunge their hands into the mass, if Moslems,
they say ' BismiUah* (In the name of God); if
Christians, they use some other formula showing
their creed. They take up lumps of food with
the right hand (it not being proper to use the left,
more especially among the Moslems), adroitly rolling
up the rice or wheat with the fingers so as not to
drop any grains on the way to the mouth. Spoons
are coming more and more into use, especially
among those who have come much into contact
with Europeans. Large draughts of water are
drunk, but only towards the end of the meal. If
there are guests, especially if any of them be of
honourable estate, the master of the house waits on
them while they eat, and however good the food
may be, or however abundant, he usually apologizes
for the poor supper he has offered them, and urges
them to eat more. When they have finished, he
and the family, or the less-distinguished guests,
take their places round the bowl. Should no
strangers be present the whole household eats to-
gether, but if there are male guests the women do
not eat with them, but have their meal afterwards
in another room. After eating the hands are washed

THE FRAGRANT WEED 127

again with soap and water, the water being poured
over the hands by a servant or one of the family
(see 2 Kings hi. 11). In the case of guests the
host will often perform this office for them, handing
them a towel or cloth with which to wipe the
hands after washing. Supper over, pipes are lit
and unsweetened coffee handed round.

When the Fellahin are on a journey or out at
work in the fields, they content themselves with
dry bread eaten with a few figs, raisins, or such
like, to give flavour to this otherwise tasteless fare.
The two little fishes which the lad, probably a
shepherd-boy, had with his five barley loaves that
spring day by the Sea of Galilee, when Jesus fed
the five thousand, were, as the Greek (Suo oxpapia,
St. John vi. 9) shows, food of this latter kind — two
of the tiny dried fish, plentiful then as to-day,
and cheap enough for one even as poor as he to
afford.

The men smoke a great deal of tobacco in small
pipes of reddish-brown clay, with wooden stems,
varying in length from a few inches to three or
four feet. These pipes are, however, being largely
supplanted by cigarettes, the papers for making
them being imported in little books or packets,
and sold everywhere. The nargileh, or hubble-
bubble, is also much smoked, by women as well
as men, a special kind of tobacco, imported from
Persia, being used. It is customary to offer these
to the principal guests on the occasion of formal
visits, as at funerals, weddings, etc.

But the woman's work does not end with the

128 DOMESTIC LIFE

more strictly domestic labours we have already
described. Drawing water has ever been in the
East essentially a woman's work, and in the early
morning and evening, especially, the women and
girls go down to the fountains or wells to fetch
the supply for the house. This is brought in
earthenware jars containing 1 to 2 gallons, or
in water-skins, the former being carried on the
head, and the latter slung on the back by a cord
passing over the forehead. The water when brought
is emptied into a large earthen jar standing in
one corner of the room. In cases, which are very
numerous, where the village is on a high hill a long
distance from the water-supply, this work is very
arduous, and must tend to shorten the lives of the
women.

Bringing the supply of firewood is another duty
which falls to the lot of the women, and entails
severe labour. In some districts the firewood is
obtained from scrub some miles distant, and parties
of women and girls may be met, bearing on their
heads long, heavy faggots of boughs of oak, tere-
binth, arbutus, etc. In other parts, where no scrub
or wood is found, they collect bundles of the Netesh
thorn, or the white-flowered broom, called Retem,
the 'juniper' of 1 Kings xix. 5 (the Arabic and
Hebrew names for the plant being the same), a
shrub very characteristic of the comparatively upper
slopes of the hills leading down to the Jordan Valley.
In the maritime plain and other parts, where the
dhurra, or white millet {Sorghum vulgare), is much
grown, the dry stalks left in the fields after the ripe

FLOCK RESTING AT NOON.

WOMEN GOING Til DRAW WATER.

To face page 128.

NEEDLEWORK 129

ears have been cut off are collected and stacked
about their houses for use as fuel in the winter-
time.

The women all know something of needlework,
and some of them are very skilful at it. The
ordinary work, such as is required in making their
everyday clothes, does not call for remark ; but
some of the gala dresses are very handsome, with
much fine needlework on them. The veil worn
over the head by the women of some villages has
this kind of work in it. These veils are made of
a very coarse kind of native cotton cloth, and are
worked with various patterns and devices in coloured
cottons and silks. This work much resembles
that of the old-fashioned « samplers,' which I can
remember seeing, in my boyish days, old women
making in some rural districts of England, and
which may still be occasionally seen framed and
hung up in country cottages. Some of the devices
on these veils are very elaborate.

In some of the gala dresses worn by the peasant
women there is in front a piece of elaborate needle-
work in various colours, of which the accompanying
photograph will give some idea. This takes a long
time to make, and girls who are betrothed busy
themselves for months before the wedding in work-
ing at these dresses, which are often worth a
considerable sum of money.

The women generally are very fond of fancy
needlework, and the teaching of it in mission-schools
is one of the best ways of attracting otherwise
unwilling scholars. In the Lebanon the women

9

130 DOMESTIC LIFE

used to be very skilful in a fine kind of embroidery,
or needlework, on a thin, light material. These
embroidered veils or scarves were reversible — that
is to say, there was no wrong side, the pattern
being so cleverly worked that it was the same on
both sides of the material. Beautiful specimens of
this work can be occasionally met with still, and they
command high prices. The spoils of needlework of
divers colours on both sides, which Sisera's mother
pictured her triumphant son as bringing back
with him after the battle with Barak and Israel
(Judg. v. 30), may very likely have been work of
this description.

The Fellahat are very fond of ornament, and,
where they can afford it, wear a great deal of
jewellery. On their wrists and arms they have
heavy bracelets, and on their fingers thick clumsy
rings. These ornaments are made of silver, but
most of it has a high percentage of alloy. In addi-
tion to these bracelets and other ornaments they
wear rows of coins on their head-dresses. The
original object of this latter custom, and also, no
doubt, partly of that of wearing jewellery, was the
safe custody of their money. It is only of recent
years that there have been any banks in Palestine,
and these, of course, have been confined to the few
towns ; and even where they have existed, their
management has by no means been always such as
to inspire the natives of the country with confidence.
Consequently women have for ages invested their
money in jewellery, or put it on their head-dress,
which neither a creditor nor the Government could

WEALTH IN HEAD-DRESSES IB]

touch, though the woman herself could use it.
One of the commonest methods of raising money
is for a woman to pledge her ornaments, and
no disgrace whatever attaches to such a trans-
action.

9-2

CHAPTER VII

domestic life {continued)

Lebex, or sour or curdled milk, has been mentioned
more than once. This is made chiefly in the spring,
when, owing to the abundance of pasture, milk is
plentiful. It closely resembles our curds and whey,
and is made by the women by putting into the
fresh milk either some old dried Leben, kept for the
purpose, or else rennet made from the stomach of a
kid, and not from the calf, as with us. The Arabic
name Leben is given it on account of its whiteness,
and is from the same root as the word ' Lebanon.'
that, again, being applied to the two mountain
ranges bearing that name because of their spotless
brilliancy when covered with the snows of winter.
It is, when clean and properly made, very nice, the
slightly acid taste being peculiarly grateful to a hot
and tired person in that warm climate, and is said
to have in such circumstances a soporific effect.

Cheese is also made in a similar manner by
means of rennet, and pressed into small hard cakes,
something like our cream cheeses, but firmer and
not so rich.

Churning butter is another occupation of the

132

CHURNING 133

women, chiefly in the spring and early .summer.
The milk is put into a large skin, similar to those
used for carrying water ; this is then suspended be-
tween the legs of a tripod of sticks. Two women
usually do the work of churning by pushing the
skin backwards and forwards between them ; the
splashing about of the milk in the skin, which must
not be filled too full, gradually separates the butter.
Much of this butter is not used as such, but is
clarified by heating over the fire, a kind of saffron
being added which gives it a yellow tint, and a
peculiar flavour very distasteful to most Europeans,
but to which one gets accustomed after a time.
This clarified butter, or Semaneh, is stored in jars
or skins for future use, being largely employed in
cookery for frying meat, eggs, vegetables, etc.,
and for mixing with the boiled rice. Failing this
Semaneh, the fat of the tail of the Oriental sheep is
much used. These fat tails, common to several
varieties of sheep in Syria, Egypt, Arabia, and
East Africa, are considered very valuable for
cooking.

But besides these more or less directly domestic
duties, the peasant women work hard in other
ways. Many of the Fellahin make their living by
growing fruit and vegetables for the towns, and
most mornings of the week crowds of Fellahat may
be seen coming into the towns carrying on their
heads baskets of radishes, cauliflowers, tomatoes,
and other vegetables, according to the time of
year ; or grapes, figs, peaches, apricots, and other
fruit ; also fowls, corn, eggs, jars of water, skins of

13-i DOMESTIC LIFE

vinegar, and bundles of grass or green barley.
Not only do they come thus from the nearer
villages, but often even from places two, three,
and four hours' distant. They squat about in the
narrow street of the town, or in the open market-
place, to sell their wares, the baskets on the ground
before them, and their babies in their laps, or hung
up in their bags, asleep, on the wall behind. It is
an interesting sight to see these women come into
one of the towns on a bright spring morning after,
perhaps, two or three days of rain. Here is a group
of women, laughing and chattering, each with a
heavy basket on her head ; several have loads of
huge pink radishes, larger than our carrots, with
their fresh green leaves ; another has two or three
large cauliflowers, which would make a Covent
Garden salesman open his eyes in wonder — for, in
spite of the curse which seems to rest on the land,
it can still produce marvels in the way of fruits
and vegetables ; yet another has a basketful of
fowls (tied by their legs), which now and then
flutter and squall in their vain attempts to escape.
A little behind is a second group following two
or three men, their lords and masters, who stalk
majestically on in front, carrying only guns or
clubs, while their wives meekly follow with their
heavy baskets, some containing billets of olive-
wood for burning, others wheat, with a few eggs
on the top ; while another, in addition to a load of
edible snails, has her baby slung at her back in a
bag. Having disposed of their wares in the town,
and made various small purchases, they set off

THE WOMEN'S LIFE-WORK 135

home again ; and riding back to the city in the
afternoon one meets the same groups one saw
in the morning, now returning to their villages,
their baskets on their heads with the various articles
they have bought — a few yards of calico, a pair of
coarse native shoes, a little tin lamp and an old
wine-bottle containing petroleum, a box or two of
matches, and a packet of tobacco for the husband ;
or, it may be, a sheep's head or piece of tripe, or
some such dainty to eat with the dry bread at the
evening meal.

Meanwhile their tongues are busy, money being
almost the invariable subject of their conversation
— -the few piastres they got for their produce in the
morning, the price of the various things they have
bought, or fines or taxes they have had to pay to
the Government. And so they disappear in the
gathering dusk, with hardly a thought beyond to-
morrow, and how to live from day to day under
the ever-growing burden of poverty and taxation,
and with no hope worth the name in the life
beyond the grave.

Nor is this all. During the spring, while the
corn is growing, the women go out almost every day
to gather the weeds which are found in quantities
among the corn, for fodder for the cattle and horses ;
they may be often seen carrying large bundles
of these weeds on their heads for long distances,
this, for what reason I know not, being considered
specially women's work. They often assist also in
the reaping of the harvest, gathering the olives,
grapes, and figs. While the ploughing is going on,

130 DOMESTIC LIFE

the women and bigger girls assist by hoeing up the
corners and odd bits of ground where the plough
cannot reach ; and I have even seen a woman
ploughing, but this is very rare.

The clay corn-bins which are a conspicuous
object in the house of every Fellah, and which
form one of the most important articles of furni-
ture, are also made by the women. Clay mixed with
Tibn (crushed straw) is the material employed in
their manufacture. After being dug out of the
hillside, it is broken up, moistened with water, and
kneaded up into a tenacious mass with the straw,
and the bin is carefully built up piece by piece, a
little being done each day, so that a large bin
(Khabiyeh) takes many days to complete. When
finished, they are well dried in the sun before being
brought into the house. When one enters a Fellah's
house, and the eye has become accustomed to the
dim twilight which nearly always reigns there, one
of the first things one notices is the row of these
bins at the back of the room, or else serving, in
one of the larger houses, as a partition between
two rooms. In them the year's supply of wheat,
lentils, barley, dried figs, etc., is stored. There is
a small hole, Bozaneh, at the bottom, through
which the contents are withdrawn as required.
East of the Jordan a very large kind of bin called
Ikwdrah is found. A framework of poles and
reeds is first made in the house between the arches
which support the roof, this framework being after-
wards plastered with clay. This latter kind of
bin probably formed the ' barns ' mentioned in the

STORES OF CORN 137

parable of the Foolish Rich Man (St. Luke xii. 18),
as barns in the sense in which we understand the
term are unknown in Palestine. At Kerak, Madeba,
and other places east of the Jordan, corn is also
stored in sacks in the spaces or recesses between
the arches of the houses. In Old Testament times
there used to be a practice of storing corn, etc., in
the ground, old cisterns being, no doubt, chiefly
used for the purpose. This would be done more
especially at disturbed times. I have seen this
plan resorted to occasionally in some districts,
more particularly in Moab and other parts of
Eastern Palestine.

Of furniture, as we understand the term, an
ordinary peasant's house will be entirely devoid,
but there will be a variety of cooking utensils and
articles of household use. The corn-bins have
already been described ; next in bulk to them will
be a huge water-jar : this usually stands near the
door, in a corner anyone can reach, for the Fellahin
are a thirsty race and drink large quantities of
water. In its capacious mouth reposes an earthen-
ware jug, or tin mug, with which to get the
water.

Other jars of various sizes and shapes will be
found, differing somewhat in the several districts of
Palestine, from the JerraJi, holding a gallon or more,
in which the women bring the water from the well,
to the ShcrbeJi, a little jar with a spout, and holding
one or two pints, from which they drink. In some of
these jars will be stored olive-oil (which is much used
in food), pickled olives, honey, and Dibbs (grape

138 DOMESTIC LIFE

molasses). A few round trays of brightly-coloured
straw worked in patterns will be seen hanging on
the walls, with a sieve and a few rough wicker
baskets for carrying vegetables to market, or bring-
ing olives or figs from the fields. Two or three
large wooden bowls will be in another corner ; in
them the dough is kneaded and taken to the oven,
clothes are taken to the spring to wash, and some-
times also the evening meal is served in one of
these. They are often made by the wandering
gipsies, who sell them to the peasants, and I
remember a Christian peasant (a Greek) once
bringing a new one he had just bought from these
wanderers, and asking me to pray over it that it
might be clean for use for food.

Smaller bowls of wood or earthenware, used as
dishes, a mortar of stone or wood for pounding
coffee, a brass pot for boiling it, a few tiny cups
without handles in which it is served, an iron ladle
in which the coffee beans are roasted, and a few
spoons with a knife or two, will complete the
inventory of the goods of an average peasant's
house.

While on the one hand the richer peasants will
have other things, especially articles of European
manufacture, on the other the very poor will have
much less. On the floor will also be one or two
mats, made of a species of papyrus, or else of a
stout grass, and on these the people will sit, chairs
being quite unknown. In a recess in the wall the
bedding will be piled. This is extremely simple,

DRESS 139

consisting of a mattress, three or four inches thick,
stuffed with wool, cotton, or rags ; a pillow, usually
filled with straw ; and one or more thick wadded
quilts (2 Kings viii. 15), which form the only
covering. Ts T o bedsteads are used, the mattress
being spread on the floor at night, and rolled up
and put away during the day.

The dress of the children is simplicity itself.
When past the period of swaddling-clothes, a single
loose garment with short sleeves, and opening a
couple of inches in front, is all they have. On the
head is a small cap, often ornamented with beads
and charms of various kinds, while other charms,
sewn up in square or triangular pieces of leather,
will be hung round the child's neck, especially if it
be a boy. As the children get older their dress
will be a reproduction on a small scale of that of
their parents, except that they are usually barefoot,
and that, in those parts of the country where turbans
are worn, the boys do not have them till they
approach manhood.

The dress of the men differs somewhat in various
parts of the country, and the same articles of cloth-
ing will be called by different names in different
places. The garment worn next the skin is prac-
tically always a kind of long shirt of white calico ; the
sleeves of this vary somewhat. East of the Jordan
they are worn very long and pointed, the dependent
point being used to carry money, tobacco, and
various little odds and ends, which are knotted up
in it, instead of being put in a pocket as with us.

HO DOMESTIC LIFE

This is often confined at the waist by a leather
strap, into which the loose skirt of the garment is
tucked when the man is at hard work. Over this
shirt a long garment like a dressing-gown, of some
coloured material, is worn ; it reaches nearly to the
heels. For ordinary wear a coloured cotton, lined
with unbleached calico, is used, but for gala dress
silk, woven in Damascus or the Lebanon, is the
material employed ; it is confined round the waist
by a coloured belt of elastic cotton webbing, with
a space for keeping money, large sums being often
carried in these ' purses ' (St. Matt x. 9) on a
journey.

Occasionally very wide, baggy trousers of white
calico, fastening at the ankles, are worn by the
peasantry, but only by those who are better off.
Over this coloured garment a short jacket of
coloured cloth, with patterns in black braid, is worn
on Sundays and feast-days. An outer cloak is also
much used ; this is of various kinds, shapes, and
colours. About Jerusalem the kind most worn is
a square cloak of wool and cotton, woven in stripes
of black and white. It is heavy and warm, and
will turn any ordinary shower, though it will get
soaked through with a long exposure to heavy rain.
About Xablus a shorter and coarser garment, red
and white, is used, while east of the Jordan, again,
a very long light black cloak reaching to the heels
is ordinarily employed. In very cold weather the
men wear a Furicah — that is, a coat or jacket made
of lambskins, dressed with the wool on them. They
are very warm, and are largely used by muleteers,

TURBANS 141

camel-drivers, and others whose work obliges them
to sleep out much at night.

In many parts the head-dress is a somewhat com-
plicated one : first of all comes a close-fitting white
skull-cap of cotton ; then a heavy thick cap over
that, of felt or some woollen material ; and over
that, again, a red fez, with a black or dark blue
tassel, while over all, like the brim of a hat,
comes the turban. This turban is of various
colours, which have for the most part a religious or
other significance. Thus, a white turban almost
always denotes a Mohammedan, more especially
one who holds some post under the Ottoman
Government ; but this is not invariable, as members
of the Yemen faction, elsewhere described, are dis-
tinguished by a white turban, and at Bethlehem it
is the custom for Christians, who have in the
course of their business had to travel much among
Moslems, to wear it. A red turban indicates those
who belong to the faction of Kais ; while a green
turban shows a Sherif, or noble — that is, a lineal
descendant of the Prophet Mohammed ; it may be
seen on the heads of beggars, or men engaged in
the most menial occupations, as well as of those
of more prosperous circumstances. I have, how-
ever, been told by Moslems that it is now some-
times adopted by people who have no real right to
the title of Sherif. In other districts, especially
those where there are many Bedouin, or where the
people come much in contact with them, the head-
dress is of quite a different character, consisting of
a large handkerchief, usually black or of some dark

142 DOMESTIC LIFE

colour, but not unfrequently white, with a heavy-
double coll of cord made of wool or goat's hair to
keep it in place.*

On their feet the Fellahin wear thick, clumsy
shoes or boots of various descriptions. There are
the long boots coming halfway up the calf of the
leg, made of bright red leather, with a tassel in
front and iron-guarded heels. These are chiefly
worn in Eastern Palestine. Then there are the
ordinary boots, with thick, heavy soles, of camel or
buffalo hide, and red uppers, coming to a point
above the heel and the instep ; shoes of a lighter
make are also worn.

On entering a house, church, or mosque, the
boots or shoes are removed. To enter wearing
them would be considered most irreverent in the
case of a sacred edifice, and disrespectful in the
case of a private house. When a number of people
are gathered at a house — e.g., to greet a stranger
of importance — extraordinary collections of boots
and shoes in all stages of wear may be seen, and
one wonders sometimes how the respective owners
ever find their special property again.

In order to fasten up the sleeves out of the way
when working, a cord, called Sliemar, is worn over
the shoulders, passing round the upper part of the

* This latter head-dress is of comparatively recent date,
the red cap and turban being universally worn in olden days,
and probably in use in our Blessed Lord's time. There is a
traditional saying of Mohammed to the effect that when
Moslems should give up wearing the turban their honour (or
nobility) would be gone.

DRESS OF THE WOMEN 143

arms. Into it the ends of the sleeves are tucked,
thus drawing them back, and leaving the lower arm
bare and free.

East of the Jordan a leather belt, with straps
attached in front and behind, coming over the
shoulders and crossing on the chest, is worn over
the inner shirt, and called Jennad.

The dress of the women is in some things similar
to that of the men. When about their work they
usually wear only one long garment, with a girdle
of some cotton or woollen material round the waist.
It is made of cotton dyed with indigo, or plain
white, or broad stripes of red, green and white. In
some cases, in cold weather, they wear a wadded
jacket, and occasionally even a lambskin coat like
the men ; but more often the poor creatures go
about, even in the coldest weather, with no extra
clothing. At weddings and on high-days and holi-
days, instead of the simple garment just described,
a much more elaborate one is worn of dark blue
material, with coloured stripes and lines, and some-
times a few gold threads running through it. Into
the front of this dress a square of the needlework
already described is inserted, while, where it is
worn, a gorgeous coat of coloured cloth, with bright
braiding round the edges, completes the costume,
the dress of the Bethlehem women being par-
ticularly brilliant.

The women of Nazareth and the districts round
wear a long white inner garment of cotton, and
over it another similar one, but of coloured material,
reaching to the feet, and open in front as far as the

144 DOMESTIC LIFE

waist, where a girdle keeps it in place. At Es Salt,
Madeba, Kerak, etc., the women's dress is most
unbecoming. It consists of a single garment of
dark blue calico, about twice as long as the wearer
is tall, the extra length being pulled up inside the
girdle, and allowed to fall over it all round, reaching
nearly to the feet, thus forming a sort of sack.

The head-dress of the women varies greatly in
the different parts of the country. The married
women of Bethlehem have a peculiar one, which is
worn only by them and the women of the neigh-
bouring village of Beit Jala. It is made of a fez,
with some material to stiffen it, and covered with
red cotton, and has two ears at the bottom on
either side. To these is fastened a chain of silver,
or some baser metal, with large silver coins attached
— ten in number in the case of the richer women,
and seven in that of the poorer (a bride has twenty).
The lowest central coin is, whenever possible, of
gold, being really a kind of medal made expressly
for the purpose, and worth some £3 or £4. Along
the front of the head-dress, over the forehead, is
one row of coins (or more if the woman be rich),
or, if she be too poor to have real money, some
imitation coins are used instead. Over the whole
a veil, consisting of some 3 yards of fine white
cotton material, is thrown. It was a veil, no doubt,
of this kind which Ruth wore when she gleaned
in the fields of Boaz outside Bethlehem, and
into which he poured the six measures of corn
(Ruth iii. 15). The head-dress entirely conceals
the hair, it being considered improper for the

WOMEN'S HEAD-DRESS 145

peasant women to show any of it, and is often
worn night and day.

The women of the villages about Jerusalem wear
a rather different head-dress, the high hat being
replaced by a close-fitting cap, to the front of
which one or two rows of coins are securely
fastened. A metal chain hangs from it, passing
loosely under the chin ; and from its lowest part
a large silver coin is suspended. Many of the coins
on this singular head-dress are large, and the total
weight amounts, where there is a double row of
them, to several pounds ; yet so accustomed to it
do the women become, that, should they have to
lay it aside for any reason, they suffer from severe
headache. So well known is this, that a short time
ago a Moslem woman in a village near Jerusalem,
who had to give her head-dress as a pledge for the
repayment of a sum of money her husband had
borrowed, bound a heavy piece of metal on her
head instead, and so prevented the headache. In
public the women always wear a veil, not over their
faces, however, but over their heads, the face being
uncovered. It is considered improper for them to
be seen by a man without their veil. It is, never-
theless, often laid aside when they are engaged in
hard work, or, indeed, in other occupations ; and
many a time in the villages, turning suddenly a
corner of one of the narrow winding lanes, I have
come on a little group of Fellahat busy at work
without their veils, but the moment I was perceived
the veils would be replaced on their heads, or, if

they were not sufficiently close at hand, one of the

10

146 DOMESTIC LIFE

long, voluminous sleeves of their dress would be
thrown over till I had passed. The women of
Moab and Gilead and those in Galilee do not wear
either of the head-dresses I have just described, but
instead of them have a dark-coloured piece of cotton
material, folded several times, bound round the
head, covering the forehead, but leaving the crown
of the head bare.

CHAPTER VIII

DOMESTIC LIFE (C0?lti?lUed)

The Fellahin are as a rule a healthy race. The
open-air life they lead, the fact that they rarely use
stimulants, and their simple habits, all tend to keep
them free from many complaints common to other
climates and conditions of life. They are, never-
theless, no more immune from sickness than any
others of the human race, and in times of illness they
are as a rule very helpless. All, both Moslems and
Christians, have unbounded faith in charms, and
use them extensively both to ward off sickness
and to cure it when it comes. There are, however,
certain remedies known to them which are not
without their value. Cauterizing with a hot iron
is resorted to for lumbago, rheumatism, diphtheria,
and other ailments, and some persons have a high
reputation for their skill in administering this drastic
remedy, which they employ with a boldness pro-
duced by their absolute ignorance of human
anatomy. The results, however, are sometimes very
good, especially in cases of acute inflammation.
Some of them are very clever in setting broken
bones. They value highly European medical and

147 10—2

148 DOMESTIC LIFE

surgical skill and European drugs, and medical
missions have done wonders in winning the hearts
of the people and in disposing them to listen to
the message of the Gospel.

Malarial fever of different types is the commonest
of all maladies ; and there are certain localities
which have an unenviable notoriety in this respect,
such as some parts of the plains of Sharon and
Jezreel, and certain villages in other places. One
such village on the western slopes of the Jebel
el Kuds became particularly malarious during the
present generation. This is said to be due to the
cutting down of some pine-woods which formerly
surrounded it — such, at least, is the opinion of its
present inhabitants, and there seems to be no reason
to question its correctness. Quinine is well known
to them as an antidote for this disease, and they
value it highly. A very virulent type of this fever,
with symptoms resembling those of yellow fever,
occurs occasionally in the plains, and is probably
due to contaminated water.

Dengue fever, or a fever closely resembling
what is now known in England as influenza, is
by no means uncommon, and sometimes occurs in
epidemics. It is characteristically called in Arabic
Abu rikab, or ' the father of the joints,' from the
severe pains in the joints and bones which usually
accompanies it. Small-pox is also very general.
Inoculation for this disease is still largely practised,
especially by the more ignorant Moslems, and
helps to spread the contagion and to raise the
death-rate. During a severe outbreak of it in

VACCINATION 149

1901, a Khatib in a village in the Jebel el Kuds
inoculated twenty-six boys from the body of one
man who had died of small-pox, with the result
that every one of them succumbed.

The people have, however, a high esteem for
vaccination as a preventative of small-pox, and
there are now native vaccinators who go about the
country practising their art. They charge a hishlik
(about sixpence) for each person operated on — a
relatively high fee for the country — and make a
very good living by it. During the outbreak just
referred to, a lady missionary vaccinated hundreds
of children and adults in some of the villages near
Jerusalem, and thus probably saved the lives of
scores of people.

Measles is another disease which is at times very
fatal among the children, and this almost entirely
from the utter carelessness of the parents, the
deaths being chiefly, not from the disease itself, but
its sequelae. They have as a rule little or no idea
of nursing the sick ; they mean well often enough,
but do not know what is wanted. Then, too, their
fatalistic ideas come in, especially in the case of the
Moslems : if it be God's will that the sick recover,
he will recover, but if not he will die, so why
should they trouble ? A European doctor, who
had had wide experience in the country, once told
me that he had on several occasions discovered
that, when he had given up hope of a patient's
recovery, and had told the relations this, they took
no further trouble about the sick person, giving
neither food nor medicine ; consequently, after

150 DOMESTIC LIFE

finding this out, he never told the friends what his
view of the case was, and his hopes (or the reverse)
of recovery.

Perhaps in no country in the world is blindness
and defective sight so common as in Palestine.
Scarcity of water has, no doubt, much to do with
this and many other complaints. When it is
difficult for the people to get water enough for
drinking and cooking, one cannot wonder that they
do not wash often. Eye diseases are very common,
but are undoubtedly aggravated by want of cleanli-
ness and by flies. It is a common thing to see
children suffering from these complaints with a
number of flies settled on the discharging eyelids,
the little things not seeming to mind their presence ;
and by them, of course, the disease is communicated
to others. Much blindness is caused by the apathy
of the people, who will put off going to a medical
man till too late. In many and many a case a
perfect cure could have been effected, but the
patient has delayed until the sight is hopelessly
gone.

The mortality among children, infants espe-
cially, is very great. Much of this is caused by the
absolute ignorance of the young mothers as to how
to treat their children. Improper food produces
much disease among them. As soon as they are
able to eat anything at all solid, they are given the
same food as the rest of the family ; and it is no
uncommon thing to see a little child, unable to
stand, eating raw cucumber or sour, unripe grapes.
The cauterization also, already mentioned, and

CHOLERA 151

which is used as freely on children as on adults, is
no doubt responsible for a good many deaths among
them, the poor little things, especially if weakly,
being unable to stand the shock and pain.

The Fellahm, although a strong race in many
respects, yet feel the cold of winter intensely, more
particularly in the mountains, and every year there
are cases of people dying of cold and exposure,
especially in times of snow. In one case, which
occurred recently, a man was going home one
winter's afternoon from Jerusalem on a donkey
which he had hired from his own village. Some
time after dark the donkey arrived alone at his
owner's house, with things belonging to the man
who had hired it in the saddle-bags. This led to a
search being made, and the man's body, partially
eaten by hyenas, was found by the roadside. Nothing
was missing, so it was, clearly, not a case of robbery
and murder ; but no doubt he had fallen from the
donkey and died of exposure.

Like all hot countries, Palestine is liable to
epidemics of cholera from time to time. During
the last epidemic but one, the village of Bir Zeit in
the Jebel el Kuds was one of those attacked by it.
A young man from the village died of the disease
in the town of Nablus. His mother fetched his
clothes home and washed them in the spring from
which most of the villagers got their drinking-
water ! As a natural consequence, the cholera very
soon broke out with great violence. It was the
grape season, and some of the people were living
out in their vineyards. One of the leading men

152 DOMESTIC LIFE

of the village, a man of great force of character,
persuaded the rest of the people to go out, only
three men, who had volunteered to do so, remain-
ing to bury the dead. Arrangements were made
for supplying the different families with food,
water, etc., without running any risk of carrying
infection. It was on a Tuesday that the disease
first showed itself, and by the following Tuesday
thirty deaths had occurred out of a population 01
from two to three hundred. Not a single other
case occurred after that day, and it never reappeared
in that village during that outbreak. Of the three
men who so nobly volunteered to bury the dead,
all escaped, the first of them dying thirty years
afterwards, the other two being still alive. The
incident is a notable one, as there was no European
hand in it from first to last, and it shows what the
Fellahin are capable of under wise and energetic
native guidance.

Leprosy* is still found in Palestine, and lepers

* The following notes on leprosy in Palestine at the
present day have been kindly furnished me by Dr. AVheeler,
the senior medical missionary of the London Jews 1 Society in
Jerusalem :

1. Fish in this country plays no part in causing leprosy.
The Jews who consume the greatest part of the salted as
well as fresh fish, and in some cases even of decaying fish,
hardly ever suffer from leprosy. A few years ago there was
a case of a woman, but she came from Salonica. In the
villages of Ramallah, Beit Haninah, Ain Arik, etc., and among
the Bedouin, practically no fish is eaten, and yet it is just
from them that the greater number of lepers come.

2. Leprosy is undoubtedly contagious ; a special bacillus

LEPROSY 153

may be seen outside Jerusalem, Xablus, and
Ramleh, sitting by the wayside begging. They
are provided for to a certain extent by the local
authorities, who in these three places have set
apart houses for them, and give them a certain
amount of bread every day. They also receive a
great deal of food and money from the people
generally, as alms.

The Fellahm seem to be specially subject to
leprosy — that is, more so than the towns-people. A
leper is regarded as a dead person, and, as already
mentioned, the Christians consider that, if a married

has been found. However, cases of contagion are very
rare.

3. It has not yet been quite decided whether leprosy is
strictly hereditary ; but heredity plays the most important
part in the transmission of this disease.

4. It is possible for leprous persons to have healthy
children. There are now in the asylum here live children
between the ages of five and twelve who have been born of
leprous parents. Up to this time they have shown no sign
of leprosy ; they are still under observation. There is a man
now living whose mother was a leper; he married about
twelve years ago. He and his wife and children are all at
present quite healthy.

5. It has not been established by experience here that a
child born of parents who become lepers afterwards need
necessarily develop leprosy itself.

6. The tubercular form is the commonest in this country.
It is impossible to state at the present moment what is the
chief factor in the causation of leprosy. The inhabitants of
this country live upon almost the same kind of food everywhere,
and although most of the lepers come from the villages, there
are some villages in which no case of leprosy has been reported.

154 DOMESTIC LIFE

person becomes a leper, the husband or wife, as the
case may be, is free to marry again.

There is at Jerusalem a fine hospital, under the
care of the Moravian Brethren, specially for lepers,
where they are most carefully tended.

There are various hot springs both east and west
of the Jordan, such as those at Tiberias, to which
people resort for various diseases. In the Zerka
Main (Callirhoe) are some which are very famous
among the people of Moab and the Belka for their
healing properties. Persons who have no children
will bathe in them in hopes that they may obtain
them, as the people believe strongly that the waters
have this effect.

Among remedies known to the native doctors
may be mentioned one for rabies ; it is an infusion
of the leaves and flowers of a low, strong-smelling
shrub with bright yellow flowers, which are
succeeded by long pods ; it has two different native

Amongst the Bedouin, who are supposed to lead a healthy
life, there have been several cases of leprosy. Although
leprosy is contagious, it would seem that before it is trans-
mitted the person receiving it must have a ' hereditary dis-
position. 1 It is a curious fact that in this country for
centuries, in spite of no sanitary precautions being taken,
leprosy has neither decreased nor increased. It is found in
certain families which seem to have a ' hereditary predis-
position. 1 In the leper hospital here there is a special
department for the bringing up, by hand, of children of
leprous parents. They are removed from their parents im-
mediately after birth, and kept exclusively in a separate
apartment ; they are thus kept from all leprous contamina-
tion. These experiments will be watched with deep interest.

INSANITY 155

names — Litin and Salmoneh. It is evidently a
powerful drug, and a medical man told me that
he knew of a case in which a man who had been
bitten by a mad dog, and was treated with it,
died of Bright's disease brought on by the use
of it.

In most of the large villages there are one or
two idiots, who seem to be harmless as a rule. A
proverb evidently derived from the Bedouin says :
* No tribe but has its idiot. ' There are a few
lunatics also, perhaps more than might be expected
a priori in a country like Palestine, where the rush
and hurry of Western life is practically unknown.
Near Bethlehem there is a Greek monastery where
insane cases are taken, the violent ones being
chained to the wall. They profess that some cases
are cured here, but, as with many other things in
the East, statistics are entirely wanting. The
lunatics, like the idiots, are nearly always harmless.
1 have never myself come across one who was
dangerous. They simply wander about, one of
their characteristics being their dislike to wearing
any sort of clothing. They, in common with
persons afflicted with the shaking palsy, are held to
be under God's special protection, and are therefore
rarely unkindly treated.

When a person has died, they have a great objec-
tion to announcing the fact directly to anyone.
Thus, for instance, if a man goes to break to
another the news of his father's death, he begins in
a roundabout way ; says he is ill, and gradually
tells him more and more, till at last the other

1$6 DOMESTIC LIFE

guesses what has happened, and breaks out into
bitter lamentations.

Many have an idea that the death of a domestic
animal, more especially if it be at all a valuable
one, such as a horse of good breed, is instead of the
death of the owner or of a member of his family.

On the day of a death, the relations, friends, and
neighbours bring food, bread, etc., to the house of
the family to eat. It is supposed that those in
the house of death cannot cook or attend to such
things, and at first they are not supposed to eat at
all, from grief, and many do not eat for some time.
In some places it is the custom to thus supply food
for fifteen days. On the last day the relatives of
the dead kill one or more sheep, make a feast, and
invite a number of people. This is considered a
satisfaction for the sins of the dead person.

Palestine being essentially a hot country, burial
has to take place very soon after death. No coffin
is used, the body being carried on a bier to the
grave merely wrapped in a shroud or in the
ordinary clothes. At a Greek funeral the relations
of the dead buy candles from the priests, and, light-
ing them, give one to each person present to show
that the life of the deceased was good and pure as
the light. With the same idea at the grave, while
the service is being read, cotton dipped in olive-oil
is placed on the corpse.

Among the Moslems the body is ceremonially
washed before burial, this being part of the duty of
the Khatib in case of men, while the village mid-
wife usually performs this office for women.

FUNERALS 157

In the case of influential people a large crowd
usually accompanies the bier, and, as it is con-
sidered a meritorious act to assist in carrying this,
there are always plenty of persons to take the dead
to the burying-ground. If the deceased be a
Moslem of position, the bier is preceded by persons
carrying palm branches (in token that the deceased
has been victorious, or, in other words, has attained
Paradise), and men reciting passages from the
Koran ; and where he has been famous as a dervish
or sheikh, red and green banners with passages from
the Koran embroidered on them will be borne in
the procession, accompanied by the beating of
cymbals.

When a grave has been dug deep enough, stones
are placed along both sides at the bottom, leaving
between a space wide enough for the corpse ; and
when this has been laid in its last resting-place,
slabs of stone are put over it, resting on the two
rows of stones. The interstices are then carefully
plastered over so that no earth can touch the body.
In rocky ground, however, the grave is sometimes
so shallow that the wild animals can get to the
corpse. Strolling one day outside the walls of
Kerak, in the land of Moab, I met a poor woman
in terrible distress ; she had come to look at the
grave of her child, which had been buried the pre-
vious day, only to find that the hyenas had dug up
and carried off the body.

The graveyards are little cared for, being in
marked contrast to the Welys, or tombs of saints.
They are rarely, if ever, enclosed in any way ; and,

158 DOMESTIC LIFE

as among the Fellahin tombstones are rare, it is
sometimes most difficult to detect a burying-ground,
and one may easily walk over an old grave without
being the least conscious of the fact (St. Luke xi. 44).
In a few Moslem villages I have noticed a large
blue sweet-scented iris planted on the graves ; this
plant is called Subeyhah, the diminutive of the word
1 Praise,' its sweet scent being thought to be accept-
able to God, as the praises of the dead.

In some cases the burial-grounds belong, not to
the village or church, but to the particular family
or clan, only members of that family being allowed
to be buried there.

The dead are sometimes buried in a sort of vault
called Fustakiyeh or Khashkhdsheh. This is some-
times a natural cave, but more often a hole in the
ground with four rough walls and a barrel-shaped
roof, a doorway being left at one end. In the case
of burial in these vaults, the body is merely laid on
the floor wrapped in a shroud or in the ordinary
clothes, the doorway being then built up with large
stones laid in mortar. A considerable number of
bodies can be placed in one of these vaults, but
they are usually employed only for the very poorest
or strangers. Occasionally others will be tem-
porarily buried there — for example, in winter, when
the weather is too stormy to allow of an ordinary
grave being dug, the body being afterwards trans-
ferred to a proper grave, as the people dislike being
buried there. It was probably in order to build
such a vault that the priests (St. Matt, xxvii. 7)
purchased the potter's field, as the removal of the

BURIAL CUSTOMS 159

clay would make a large hole suitable for the pur-
pose, and thus lessen the expense. In the same
way now a hole caused by the removal of stone for
building is sometimes utilized by the Fellahin for
making one of these burial-vaults.

After the funeral, in the case of Moslems, food
is often cooked and placed on the grave for the
poor to eat, this being, it is supposed, reckoned in
the other world as though done by the dead person,
and so as adding to his merit, and consequently
increasing his hopes of eternal life.

This is also done in many cases on Thursdays for
some time after the death, and for the same reason.
Again, after Ramadhan (the Moslem month of fast-
ing) is over, the people go to the burial-ground,
when (if there has been a death in any family during
the past year, and if the relations can afford it) food
is placed there for the poor.

If a sheikh or influential person dies, word is sent
to the people of his own and neighbouring villages,
and they come bringing money or clothes, which
they put on the grave in honour of the dead. These
are taken by the relations, who in return make
a feast for those who attend the funeral. But in
some places, instead of clothes and money, rice only
is put on the grave.

Sometimes after the death of a sheikh, or other
important person, a favourite camel will be bound
on the grave, and left there to die ; such a victim
is called JJahiyeh. The idea is probably that of its
spirit accompanying its former owner in the spirit-
world.

160 DOMESTIC LIFE

The Fellahtn greatly dread any disturbance of
their bones after death, and to do this is looked
upon as a great sin. One of the worst curses that
can be pronounced on a man is, ' May your bones
be disturbed !'

Thursday is the day on which, according to
Moslem belief, the spirits of the dead are supposed
to visit the graves. For this reason the people go
out to the burial-ground on that day, and sit among
the graves. Blind men also are sometimes hired to
come at these times and recite passages of the
Koran there. They believe that the spirits know
that the graves are thus honoured, and that, though
we cannot see them, they can see us ' as we see oil
in a bottle.'

After a death, especially that of a person of con-
sideration, friends from the villages round go to
' comfort ' the relations. They take a goat or sheep
with them, kill it, and make a feast to console them.
This may be done at any time from five days to a
year. They stay a day or two with the dead man's
relatives, and then gradually disperse to their own
homes. A similar return visit has to be paid by
the relatives subsequently. These occasions are
often very burdensome to the poorer people, as
they borrow money to meet the expenses, the debts
thus incurred hampering them for years afterwards ;
but as they would be considered stingy, an epithet
an Arab dreads almost more than any other, if they
omitted to observe the custom, they are afraid to
drop it.

CHAPTER IX

SHEPHERDS, HERDSMEN, ETC.

The occupation of a shepherd is contemporaneous
in its origin with the birth of the human race, and
shepherds have throughout the Bible narrative
played an important part in the history of the
world. Abel was a keeper of sheep ; Abraham,
Jacob, Moses, David, and other of Israel's heroes
and teachers, have been shepherds, and have fed
their flocks on the hills and plains of the Holy
Land or the neighbouring countries ; while the
Scriptures teem with incidents connected with, and
illustrations drawn from, the life of the shepherd
and the sheep.

The dependence of the sheep on the shepherd,
and the intimacy between the two, is infinitely
closer than anyone acquainted with our Western
flocks would at all suppose, as we shall see. The
shepherd it is who goes out with the flock morning
by morning, who chooses each day their pasture,
leads them when thirsty to sjH'ing or brook, and
finds a cool and shady place where they may rest
during the heat of the day. He it is who guides
them safely home at eventide to village or sheep-

161 11

162 SHEPHERDS, HERDSMEN, ETC.

fold, guards them from robbers, and protects them
from wild beasts. In the bosom of his inner robe
he carries the young lambs when weary ; as the
flock grazes, scattered over the plain or along the
hillside, he watches over it with ceaseless vigilance,
warns the stragglers, goes after the lost ones, and
at night, when in the wilderness, lies down to rest
in the midst of them. He knows each of his sheep
individually, often gives them names, to which,
when called, they respond, and his voice is familiar
to them, and they will recognise and follow it out
of many others.

Goats and sheep, flocks and herds, have ever con-
stituted one of the principal sources of wealth in
the East, and have been always one of the chief
objects of the raids of the Bedouin and other
marauders. This latter is well shown by the fact
that the ordinary word in Arabic for spoil, or booty
taken in war, is Gliandmeh, from Ghanam (sheep).
To-day both goats and sheep are of the utmost
value to the Fellahin. The milk drunk in the
country is almost exclusively that of goats and
ewes (cows are scarcely ever milked, except in the
towns), and it is from this that the butter, cheese,
and Leben are made. Their wool and hair are spun
into coarse thread ; of the former, strong rough
cloth for garments, carpets, and bags, is woven, and
of the latter is manufactured twine and rope of
various thicknesses, a stout material for saddle-bags,
nosebags for horses and mules, corn-sacks, and the
black haircloth for the shepherds' tents. Their flesh
is eaten, the horns are made into knife-handles, the

■f- ■-.

Q

v - - "V

FIELDS 163

skins are tanned, while the hides of the larger goats
are stripped off entire, and when dressed become
the water-skins so familiar to all dwellers in the
towns and cities of the Orient.

The life of the shepherd in the East is a much
more arduous one than that of their English
brethren. With the exception of the vineyards
and little plots of garden ground where cucumbers,
melons, tomatoes, etc., are grown, the country is
unenclosed, and therefore the shepherd cannot leave
his flock in a field # during the day, and return at
night knowing that he will find his sheep there ; he
must accompany them throughout the day in all
their wanderings over the plains or along the
mountain-side, and never lose sight of them for
a moment. Morning by morning he takes them
out, stays with them all day long, and at evening

* The Hebrew term for ' field, 1 in by far the greater
number of passages where that word occurs in our Bible, has
no such connotation as that of the English word — viz., * an
enclosed portion of pasture or arable land ' — but means
merely the land outside the city or village — in other words,
the open country. The modern Arabic term for such land
denotes uninhabited or, more exactly, uncultivated land,
and is often the exact equivalent of our word ' wilderness '
(not 'desert 1 ). Such terms as 'down, 1 'common, 1 ' moor, 1 would
more nearly connote the idea conveyed by the Hebrew and
Arabic words than does ' field 1 ; though even this at one
time probably meant the open country, and under the form
4 fell 1 (compare the Dutch ' veld ') does so still. Such lands
in Old Testament times were inherited, bought, and sold,
■equally with vineyards and other enclosed portions (see
Jer. xxxii. 43, 44, where the Hebrew is in the singular).

11—2

164 SHEPHERDS, HERDSMEN, ETC.

brings them buck to village or fold. When thus
putting forth his sheep in the morning, bringing
them home at night, or leading them through the
day to fresh pasture, he always goes before his flock
(St. John x. 4) ; but when the sheep or goats are
grazing he lets them scatter about, following them
wherever they go, keeping a watchful eye over
them, and warning them whenever they are going
into any danger, or attempt to stray into forbidden
places. Often on the hillside the shepherd may be
seen thus watching his charge, leaning on his staff
or club, his form as he stands on a projecting rock,
or little knoll, silhouetted against the deep blue
sky. Should a sheep stray too far from the flock, he
warns it by a shout, and should this be unheeded he
will throw a stone near it, so as to turn it in the
direction he desires. I have never seen any of
them purposely throw a stone at a sheep or goat,
though I have known a careless aim result in
a broken leg. Each shepherd has his own peculiar
cry, with which all his sheep are familiar, and which
lie always uses when he wishes to call them to him
or to get them to follow him.

Some years ago I was staying the night in some
shepherds' tents in the Jebel Ajlun (Gilead). The
tents, to the number of ten or twelve, were pitched
in a wide circle enclosing a considerable area. In
the evening some six or seven flocks were brought
within the camp for protection. In the morning,
when the time came for the shepherds to take their
charges out to pasture, instead of attempting to
separate their respective flocks from the crowd of

THE SHEPHERD'S CALL 165

goats and sheep scattered promiscuously over the
enclosed space, each man went a little way beyond
the ring of tents, and standing there uttered his
special call. Instantly the whole mass of sheep
and goats was in motion, and as the shepherds
continued to call the several flocks separated them-
selves, each streaming out of the camp in the
direction of their respective guides, and in five
minutes not a goat or sheep remained inside.
Looking again shortly afterwards, the various
flocks could be seen diverging to all points of the
compass, each following its own shepherd (St.
John x. 4, 5).

The shepherds often give names to their sheep.
These names are descriptive of some trait or
characteristic of the animal, as Long-ears, White*
nose, Speckled, and so forth. Not unfrequently
the sheep get to know their names, and will answer
to them when called (St. John x. 3).

Every shepherd worthy of the name knows and
recognises his charges by their appearance, and
it is said that even in a lame flock will thus dis-
tinguish each one. When he goes over them to
ascertain if all are there, either at coming home at
night or on going out in the morning, he can tell,
without counting, whether one be missing or not.
Should one or two be wanting, he knows exactly
which they are, and can describe them accurately.
If at any time a shepherd thus finds that one of his
sheep is missing, he will, as a rule, go at once in
search of it. Not very long ago a shepherd, belong-
ing to a village no great distance from Jerusalem,

160 SHEPHERDS, HERDSMEN, ETC.

discovered, as his sheep passed before him into
their fold at night, that one of them was not there.
Accordingly, he set out to search for it. For three
days he wandered about seeking it, till at length
he came upon it in the wilderness, held fast by one
of its fore-feet, which had become wedged in a crack
of a rock where it had climbed to find herbage.

But it is not only to keep them from straying
that the shepherd must accompany his sheep. Wild
beasts are by no means unknown in Palestine
to-day, in spite of the increase of modern firearms.
Especially is this the case in the remoter and more
rugged districts where the population is very sparse,
and the villages few and far between ; while, when
impelled by scarcity of food they will haunt the
villages and suburbs of the towns. A Bethlehem
woman, who was our cook for some time, has told
me that once, when she was a girl, going out of her
father's house very early one morning, she came on
a bear just outside.

Hyenas are common, and wolves by no means
rare, and the latter will sometimes attack the sheep
in broad daylight. In the summer of 1901 I was
itinerating among the villages around Jerusalem.
One day I sent my tent on in advance to a certain
village, bidding my servant to have it pitched by
the time I arrived. On reaching the place, I found
the tent erected on the edge of the village, in a fig-
garden, and a number of the villagers awaiting me.
We exchanged greetings, and I had hardly entered
my tent when, a sudden commotion arising, I ran
out to see what had happened. Two flocks of

WOLVES 167

sheep, led by their respective shepherds, were
descending the opposite side of the valley and
converging towards the village. Just at this
moment the men around my tent caught sight of
a huge gray wolf (' as large as a donkey,' remarked
one of them, with characteristic Oriental exaggera-
tion) stealthily making its way towards the sheep,
no doubt with the hope of picking up a straggler.
The shouts and cries of the villagers warned those
in charge, and alarmed the wolf, who, finding he
was discovered, slunk off in another direction. A
few days before this occurred, at another hamlet in
the same district, a wolf got by night into a court-
yard where a number of sheep were folded, and killed
two of them before it was detected. This was an
unusually audacious thing for a wolf to do, as they
generally shun the precincts of human habitations.
Probably he was impelled by hunger, as that year,
from some unknown cause, there was a remarkable
scarcity of the smaller animals on which they prey.
The year previous to this was one of abnormally
scanty rainfall in Western Palestine, with conse-
quent scarcity of pasture for the flocks. On this
account one of the peasants belonging to a village
I know well took his flock of forty sheep to the
Belka, the great tableland east of the Jordan, which
once formed the territory of Sihon, King of the
Amorites. After an absence of many weeks,
having heard that rain had fallen, and that there
was grass in the field (Zech. x. 1), he decided to
return to his village, and accordingly started on his
way home. Sheep are proverbially slow travellers

168 SHEPHERDS, HERDSMEN, ETC.

(Gen. xxxiii. 13, 14), and after several days' journey
the shepherd found himself one evening in the
wilderness of Judea, to the west of Jericho. He
had watched alone for several nights, travelling
during the day, and was utterly tired out. Gather-
ing his flock around him, he lay down to rest, and
was soon fast asleep. While he slept six wolves
came down on the sheep, and when he awoke next
morning forty mangled carcasses lay about him.
When the poor man, heart-broken at his loss, got
back to his own village and told his tragic tale, the
villagers, with that kindliness which is one of the
fine features of their character, joined together to
help. One gave a single sheep, another two,
another three, and so on, thus making up his entire
loss.

Another man told me how once he was out with
his sheep in a deep, partially wooded valley. As he
stood watching the flock, the movement of some
animal making its way through the scrub down the
further side of the valley caught his eye. At first
the creature was too far off for him to make out
what it was. Presently it reached a stream which
flowed along the bottom, and as it stopped to drink
he saw that it was a large wolf. Crossing the
brook, it made swiftly for the sheep. The man
hurried down to meet it, but the beast was quicker
than he, and before he could intercept it, had
caught a sheep which had strayed too far from the
rest of the flock. The wolf had seized the unfor-
tunate creature by the throat, and was attempting
to drag it away when the man came up with it.

ROBBERS 169

Leaving its victim, it turned boldly on the man,
and, seizing his knee in its powerful jaws, buried its
fangs in the flesh. A fierce struggle for life ensued,
as the peasant was unarmed. At last, however, he
managed to get hold of a large stone, and gave the
wolf a blow between the eyes, which partially
stunned it and made it let go its hold. Following
up his advantage, he completely disabled it with
further blows, and finally crushed its skull.

But wild beasts are not the only enemies shep-
herds have to guard against. Thieves and robbers
are not uncommon, especially where the villagers
are camping out with their sheep in the open
country. Some years ago I was riding home to
Jerusalem with a friend, rather late at night. The
sun had set two or three hours previously, and there
was no moon. About an hour from Jerusalem we
passed a large flock of sheep, with their shepherd
in the midst of them, sleeping out a little off the
road. As we drew near we noticed a man stealthily
creeping up towards the sheep, under cover of a
pile of stones, with the evident intention of stealing
some of them. We forthwith alarmed the shepherd,
and the would-be robber, finding that he was
detected, decamped.

Such attempts are usually made under cover ot
darkness. Sometimes several men together w T ill
organize a raid. They creep quietly up from different
sides till they are in close proximity to the Hock on
which they have designs. They then fire several
guns simultaneously, and the startled sheep spring
up and scatter in all directions. The robbers seize

170 SHEPHERDS, HERDSMEN, ETC.

as many as they can conveniently take, and are
gone before the owners can do anything. In the
case of such an attempted raid which occurred
within my own knowledge not long ago, a man
succeeded in saving several flocks. Three or four
shepherds were spending the night together in the
open country ; robbers came down on them in the
way I have described, and the sheep began to run
in all directions. Some of the shepherds, in a panic,
ran off to a village near by for help, but one of
them, with great presence of mind, stood up in the
midst of the sheep and loudly uttered his special call,
at the same time whirling his Abba, or cloak, round
his head. At the sound of his voice the sheep
stopped in their flight. The waving of the cloak
caught their eye, and, following its motion, they
came circling round and round, getting gradually
nearer and nearer to the shepherd, till at length,
with the exception of one unfortunate animal, all
had been brought back. But for the prompt action
of this man nearly all the sheep would have been
lost.

In most flocks there is a leader, either a goat or
sheep. It carries a bell, and is frequently orna-
mented by the shepherd. If it is straying too far,
and the shepherd warns it by throwing a stone so
as to fall near it, it will usually come back at once
to him ; but should it not do so, the man threatens
it with his stick, when it will instantly run close up
to him.

Sheep or goats stolen near a town are usually
disposed of at once by the thieves to the butchers.

STRAYING SHEEP 171

This is so generally recognised by the Fellahin that,
should a shepherd miss any of his charges, and have
any reason to suspect that they have been stolen,
he commonly sets off immediately for the city.
Arrived there, he goes to the slaughter-house to
see if he can find his missing charges ; should he
succeed in doing so, the animals will be returned to
him. If, however, he be unsuccessful, he inquires
what butchers have killed that day, and, going
round to their shops, asks to see the heads and
hides of the animals. In the event of his identify-
ing any of his property, he takes the head of the
slaughtered animal to the authorities, and claims,
and frequently obtains, compensation for it.

In cases where a sheep or a goat has strayed
from its own flock, and, as sometimes occurs, has
joined another, should its former owner discover it,
he can claim it. If he can prove the time and
place of its disappearance, and these tally with the
circumstances under which it joined its present com-
panions, his claim will be allowed, and the animal
be restored to him. Not only so, but if the straying
animal be a ewe or she-goat, and have in the
meanwhile borne lambs or kids, both it and its
offspring will be restored to the original owner
when once the claim is fairly established. I knew
of a certain case in the Jebel el Kuds where some
years elapsed before a straying ewe was traced, but
when this was at last done, not only the sheep
itself, but also all its progeny, amounting to twenty-
one head in all, were returned to the former pro-
prietor. There is among the Fellahin a kind of

172 SHEPHERDS, HERDSMEN, ETC.

code of honour in this matter, and once let such
a claim be fairly established, but few of them
would venture to repudiate it. Some sheep are
peculiarly prone to straying, and the peasants have
a special term for such — Xadireh, or isolated.

The rule mentioned by Jacob (Gen. xxxi. 39)
still holds good in Palestine. Whatever be stolen
from a shepherd, by day or by night, he has to
make good, the supposition being that the loss was
due to negligence or lack of watchfulness on his
part. This, however, does not apply in the case
of a raid, nor if the sheep have been carried off by
wolves.

As the summer comes on and the weather gets
hotter, the herbage becomes dry. The sheep and
goats begin to need water, which is not the case
while the pasture is green and succulent. The
flocks are then usually watered once a day, about
noon, from a stream or spring, or, if these highly-
prized blessings do not exist, from wells or
cisterns. Many of these cisterns are out in the
open country, on the site of some ancient village
which has disappeared ages ago, or found dug in
a long-forgotten garden or vineyard. In such
cases a large stone or pile of stones is placed over
the well's mouth, partly to prevent the water being
stolen, and partly to keep animals from falling in.
This practice dates from remotest antiquity, as we
learn from Gen. xxix. 1-10 and other passages.
Sometimes a huge circular block of stone, in shape
resembling a giant millstone, is placed over the
well. This stone has an opening in the centre

RESTING AT NOON 173

large enough to admit the easy passage of a bucket
filled with water. In this opening a closely-fitting
pear-shaped stone, like a stopper, is inserted, so
smooth and heavy that it is almost impossible to re-
move it with the hands alone. It is a beautiful sight
to watch, as mid-day draws on, the various flocks,
led by their respective shepherds, converging to-
wards some large spring, and then patiently awaiting
their turn to come at their master's bidding and
quench their thirst in the cool rivulet.

Throughout the hotter months the sheep are
taken to some shady spot to rest during the middle
of the day. A grove of trees, the shadow of an
overhanging rock, a cave, a ruin — all are utilized
for this purpose. From time immemorial the shep-
herds in Palestine have done this, and the practice
is referred to in the words of the Bride (Cant. i. 7) :
' Tell me where thou makest thy flock to rest at
noon.' In the deep valleys which descend from
the tableland of Moab, and those in the hills about
Es Salt (Ramoth Gilead), the perennial streams are
bordered with a thick growth of tamarisk, oleander,
and tall reeds. Here I have often seen the shep-
herds bring their flocks at noon to drink, and then
rest in the deep, cool shade of the bushes by the
water's side. David had, no doubt, often done the
same when feeding his father's sheep, and had some
such scene before his mind's eye when he penned
the words (Ps. xxiii. 2) : ' He maketh me to lie
down in green pastures : He leadeth me beside the
still waters.'

In Carmel, the Jebel Ajlun, and other wooded

174 SHEPHERDS, HERDSMEN, ETC.

districts, the shepherds, when in late summer and
autumn the pasture begins to get scanty, often cut
down the large boughs of trees, especially those of
the evergreen oak, that the sheep and goats may
browse on the foliage. xVt such times there may
be often seen in these districts an expectant flock
round one of these trees, waiting patiently while
the shepherd climbs up and with his axe chops off
the more leafy branches. These, as they fall, are
eagerly seized by his hungry charges, who quickly
devour the foliage and tender shoots. This custom
is referred to in Ezek. xxxiv. 29, R.V., and
Mic. vii. 14.

The practice is very destructive of the trees, not
from the removal of the branches, but from fire.
The boughs are left where they fall, and as the
process is repeated year after year a pile of sticks
gradually gathers round the tree. These are as
dry as tinder, and a light carelessly thrown by a
passing traveller or a grass fire sets the whole in
a blaze. I have seen oaks which probably took
hundreds of years to grow, and which could ill be
spared in such a treeless land, thus destroyed in a
few hours.

In some parts of the Lebanon, during the autumn,
when the silkworm season is over, sheep are regu-
larly fattened with mulberry-leaves, which are care-
fully gathered by hand for the purpose. The leaves
are put into their mouths, and they are forced to
eat even when unwilling to do so. The women
may be actually seen working the poor animals'
jaws with their hands to induce them to go on

FAT-TAILED SHEEP 175

masticating their food. This hand-feeding is, how-
ever, only done in the case of the sheep, of which
every family that can possibly afford it buys one
at least to feed up for the winter's supply of
cooking fat. The Syrian breed of sheep has a very
large broad tail consisting almost exclusively of fat,
and when thus fed up this tail becomes of an enor-
mous size, yielding, when the animal is slaughtered,
many pounds of a very delicate fat, which is highly
prized for cooking purposes. In the Mosaic ritual
it was specially ordered to be offered to God
(Lev. iii. 9, R.V.).

In the winter and early spring many of the
shepherds from the villages overlooking the Ghor
take their flocks down there to graze. If a fairly
abundant rain has fallen in the autumn in the
Jordan Valley, owing to its warm, almost tropical
climate, a rich growth of vegetation springs up
there long before the uplands have begun to get
green. At such times thousands of goats and
sheep from the villages in the hill country may be
seen there knee-deep in the luxuriant pasture. The
shepherds who accompany these flocks sleep out
with them in the open, scorched by the fierce sun
by day, and shivering in the relatively cold air at
night — just as Jacob complained to Laban, ' in the
day the drought consumed me, and the frost by
night ' (Gen. xxxi. 40).

In sparsely inhabited districts, the shepherds who
wander about with their flocks, as did Jacob's sons
(Gen. xxxvii. 12-17), to find pasturage for them,
sometimes make camps, pitching their tents for a

176 SHEPHERDS, HERDSMEN, ETC.

few days in one place, and moving on to another
when the grass in the vicinity has been eaten up.
This is the thought in Hezekiah's lament (Isa.
xxxviii. 12) — here in the morning, by noon gone,
and not a vestige of them remaining.

In hilly districts caves are often used by the
wandering shepherds as shelter for their flocks by
night. Especially is this the case in the wilderness
of Judea, that bare, treeless tract of limestone hills
which stretches from the central ridge of Palestine
to the Dead Sea and lower part of the Jordan
Valley. Here it is common to find caves whose
roofs are blackened by smoke, with little heaps of
ashes on the floor, and other signs of human
occupation, while a low semicircular wall of
rough loose stones guards the entrance. These
are the sheepcotes (1 Sam. xxiv. 3). A notable
instance of them is the huge cavern of the Mughar-
at ul Jai in the Wady Suweinit, near Michmash,
and which is probably the rock Rimmon where
the 600 fugitives from the almost exterminated
tribe of Benjamin took refuge (Judg. xx. 47).

The late Dr. Edersheim, in an interesting
passage on the appearance of the angels to the
shepherds announcing the Saviour's birth ('Life
and Times of Jesus the Messiah,' vol. i., pp. 186,
187), infers from a paragraph in the Mishna that
the Temple flocks in the vicinity of Bethlehem lay
out all the year round. Owing to the geographical
position of that place, there would be no difficulty
about this, even in the coldest weather. The little
town is situated on an outlying spur on the eastern

THE FIRST CHRISTMAS DAY 177

side of the great ridge or backbone which, with one
single break only, runs down the entire length of
Palestine. In front — that is, in the direction of the
Dead Sea — the ground falls so rapidly that it would
be possible in quite a short time, and at no very
great distance from it, to descend as much as
1,000 feet, and at this point snow would never lie.

I well remember riding out one bright Sunday
morning in winter, some years ago, to conduct an
Arabic service at Bethlehem. A heavy fall of
snow had taken place during the night, and the
country all round Jerusalem was covered with a
white mantle. But when I had crossed the low olive-
clad ridge to the south of the Plain of Rephaim,
and could look down into the valleys around
Bethlehem, I saw that they were entirely free from
snow. At some 700 or 800 feet below the town it
ceased abruptly, and there was a sharp line of
demarcation, running as straight and true as if
drawn by a rule, along the slopes of the eastern
hills.

Now, the phraseology of the passage (St. Luke ii. 8)
would seem to require that the shepherds should
have been some little distance below the town.
They were ' abiding in the field ' — that is, the open
country (see note, p. 163). But in all probability
the slopes immediately around Bethlehem were
then, as now, terraced and planted with olives,
vines, fig-trees, etc., so that the spot where the
shepherds were watching on that memorable night
must have been some place below the zone of
cultivation. Tradition is too often an untrust-

12

178 SHEPHERDS, HERDSMEN, ETC.

worthy guide as to the location of sites, but in this
case it is certainly noteworthy that the spot which
it points out as the scene of the appearance of the
angelic visitant lies far below the town. Other
facts point in the same direction, one of them being
that in the valleys it is considerably warmer, and the
grass springs earlier there than on the surrounding
hills ; consequently, in winter, flocks are often taken
down there, as well as to the Ghor, to graze. I
once passed a cold night in January in the Wady
Mojib (the Arnon), east of the Dead Sea. The
hills above us were white with snow, but none was
to be found in the deep valley ; while a large flock
of goats and sheep, under the care of two shepherds,
was folded for the night in a large shallow cave
within two or three hundred yards of the spot
where my tent was pitched.

Flocks are also sometimes taken down into these
valleys from the higher villages on the approach of
bad weather, in order to escape the cold and wet,
and to find pasture, which in the event of a snow-
storm would, in the uplands, be buried. This
precaution is specially needful in the case of goats,
which are much more sensitive to cold and wet
than sheep, as the fleeces of the latter form a much
more efficient protection than the comparatively
scanty hair of the former. One of the last occa-
sions on which I stayed at Es Salt (the ancient
Ramoth Gilead) was in mid- winter. One morning
I discovered that no milk was to be had in the
town, and inquiries elicited the fact that the
weather threatened a heavy fall of snow (which

DESTRUCTIVE GOATS 179

came in a day or two), and all the goats and sheep
had been taken to the low-lying valleys in order to
escape it.

Though goats and sheep are, from one point of
view, among the most valuable of the peasants'
assets, yet in one particular direction they do great
harm to the country. I refer to the way in which
they destroy the young trees and shrubs. This
indictment applies more especially to the goats.
There is hardly anything green which these animals
will not devour, while sheep are much more
fastidious. On this account goats will thrive
where sheep would starve. In the open country,
where there is scrub or brushwood of oak or tere-
binth which would, if left a few years, develop into
the forest trees which are such a lack in Palestine,
the flocks may often be seen browsing on the leaves
and tender shoots. In this way they effectually
prevent the growth and development of the woods,
which are at the present time probably the most
urgent need, from an agricultural point of view.

In the late autumn, when pasture is becoming
very scarce, the owners of vineyards will, after the
grapes have been gathered, allow the flocks to be
turned into them. It would, I think, be hard to
parallel the picture of dreary desolation which a
vineyard presents after it has been thus eaten down
by goats ; and no more fitting or more graphic
illustration of the utter ruin of the country could
be given than Jeremiah's application of the figure
to the condition of Judah and Jerusalem after the
Chaldean invasion (Jer. xii. 10, 11).

12 9

180 SHEPHERDS, HERDSMEN, ETC.

The shepherds often have dogs with them, not,
as in England, to drive the sheep, but to help in
guarding them, and to give notice of the approach
of robbers, human or otherwise. Though they are
poor mongrel curs compared with our collies, yet
they are very efficient, and are often really brave.
Three or four years ago a pair of leopards was
haunting a wooded district in Central Palestine,
and one of these shepherd dogs, in the discharge of
his duty, boldly attacked one of them, and was
killed while thus endeavouring to guard the flock.

The shepherds are rarely, if ever, the owners of
the entire flock, though not unfrequently a portion
of the sheep and goats may belong to them. For
the most part, especially in Western Palestine, they
are merely hired to do the work. The rate of
wages varies a good deal in the different parts of
the country, but more especially with the number
of sheep or goats of which the flock consists. In
some districts the shepherd receives a certain
amount of corn per head per annum. More
commonly, particularly if the flock be small, he
receives a trifling money payment, about tenpence
per head per annum, his food, and one or two suits
of clothes* yearly, according to the agreement with
him. In yet other places his remuneration is the
milk of the flock every other day. This latter only
holds good, as far as I am aware, in the neighbour-
hood of towns where there would be a ready sale

* Compare the account of the wages given by Micah to
the Levite from Beth-lehem-judah whom he hired to be his
priest (Judg. xvii. 10).

SHEEP-FOLDS 181

for milk, Leben, butter, and cheese. In any case,
the shepherd is allowed free use of the milk of the
flock for himself (1 Cor. ix. 7). In the country
east of the Jordan the shepherd receives every
tenth lamb or kid each year, and thus in time
becomes the owner of a good deal of the flock.
This method of payment is often preferred to any
other, as the shepherds who are thus paid are
considered to become more skilful, and to take
better care of the sheep and goats, than those who
are simply hirelings.

In the maritime plain, as soon as the harvest has
been reaped, many shepherds from the villages in
the hill country bring their flocks down there to
pasture. The owners of gardens in the district
build large enclosures for these flocks, with a room
for the shepherd, and allow the free use of them for
the sake of the resultant manure, which is highly
valued for the vegetable gardens and as fuel for
the ovens. In these folds the goats and sheep are
often separated at night, although during the day
they graze promiscuously. Where this is done the
sheep sleep in the open courtyard, while the goats
are in the inner room. The reason which the
Fellahin give for this separation is the fact, already
mentioned, that the goats, having a much scantier
natural protection than the sheep, are far more
sensitive to cold and wet (especially to snow), and
consequently require more shelter than they do.
The sheep, too, cannot endure a close atmosphere,
and must be in the open air if they are to continue
healthy.

182 SHEPHERDS, HERDSMEN, ETC.

In the spring the young kids and lambs are
usually not allowed to go out with their mothers,
as they would not stand the incessant walking, but
are kept at home. When a little older they are
sent out for a short distance, in small flocks, each
flock being generally in charge of a boy, who thus
begins his training for the work of a shepherd.

The shepherds are almost invariably armed. Many
carry some sort of firearm, frequently of a very
antiquated pattern, from the old flint-lock musket
down to a muzzle-loading fowling-piece. Others
have only a club or bludgeon, perhaps supplemented
by a dagger or sling, or both. This club is about
2 J feet long, of oak or other heavy wood, with a head
or knob as large as a good-sized orange, and from
which it is colloquially termed Dubbus, or 'pin.' It
is in the hands of a strong man a most formidable
weapon, and with such a club it is easy to under-
stand how David could have killed either lion or
bear, or any other wild beast that he might have
had to encounter (1 Sam. xvii. 34, 35). About
Es Salt a club of a different kind is used. Instead
of having a knob at the further end, it is, for the
last third of its length, somewhat curved, with sharp
angles, a section of this portion being as follows <j>
Like the JDubbus, it is made of oak, and it is said
that a powerful man has been known, with a back-
handed stroke from such a club, to cut a man's
head off — a statement which is by no means in-
credible. The club is often carried by being thrust
into the girdle, where it is available at a moment's
notice, and yet leaves both hands free.

FIVE BARLEY LOAVES 183

A 'scrip' (1 Sam. xvii. 40) usually completes
a shepherd's equipment. This is a leather bag, the
skin of a kid, or other small animal, stripped off
whole. In it the shepherd puts his pipe, flint and
steel, tobacco, and flute, and any other little things
he may need. Food, also, will not unfrequently
be carried in it, especially if he be likely to sleep
out with his flock — a few loaves of bread, a hand-
ful of dried figs, or some olives, to give a little
flavour to the dry fare. It was, I think, most
probably the contents of some shepherd-lad's scrip
that furnished the five barley loaves and two little
dried fish with which the Lord fed the five
thousand.

Cattle are tended much in the same way as the
sheep during those seasons of the year when they
are not used for work. They are sent out in herds
to graze, with one or more herdsmen to look after
them. They are much smaller than our cattle, and
generally in but poor condition. Most of the
ploughing and threshing is done by their means, as
will be described when we come to speak of those
occupations. In the villages the cows are rarely
if ever milked, and the flesh is never eaten. In the
towns it is only of late years that cow's milk was
procurable, or beef to be seen in the butchers'
shops.

Like the sheep, the cattle are taken into the Jordan
Valley to graze in years when there is much grass
there. During the time they are in the Ghor, the
herdsmen who tend them (and also the shepherds
who bring their flocks down there) receive special

184 SHEPHERDS, HERDSMEN, ETC.

remuneration, according to the number of days they
are absent from home. These men keep a record
of the time spent there by cutting a notch on a
stick for each day they are in the Ghor, much in
the style of the old English ' tallies ' in the days of
our forefathers. Boys are commonly employed to
herd the cattle when grazing in the open country
round the villages, but when sent to a distance
they are committed to more responsible hands.
Among the Druzes, the old men who are past
ordinary manual labour are set to tend the herds,
a custom which is the object of much ridicule on
the part of their Christian neighbours. Though
extensively employed for ploughing and threshing,
I have never seen cattle used by the Fellahin to
draw any wheeled vehicle.

Around the Sea of Galilee, in the district about
Carmel, and the neighbourhood of Gaza, buffaloes
are found to a small extent. They are very power-
fid, and are used for ploughing and similar work ;
but though closely resembling, if not identical with,
the Central African species, the Palestine buffaloes
seem very harmless and inoffensive.

The camel is to-day, and probably always has
been, the chief beast of burden, in the strict mean-
ing of the term. It is only within the last twenty-
five years that there have been any roads in Pales-
tine suitable for carts or carriages ; and what roads
there are now are very few, and chiefly about
Jerusalem. Hence, practically all the heavy traffic
of the country is carried on by means of camels.
Some of the peasants get their living by camel-

PREPARING FIREWOOD FOR MARKET.

CAMELS CARRYING STONE.

Tofacepagi 164

CAMELS 185

driving. They own one or more of these animals,
and hire them out to carry goods from the sea-
ports to the interior, from town to town, or
from the villages to the cities and towns. Thus,
nearly all the building stone used in Jerusalem is
brought into the city from the quarries on the backs
of camels, and, notwithstanding the existence of the
railroad between Jaffa and Jerusalem, much of the
heavy traffic between the two places is still carried
by means of these animals. From the districts
east of the Jordan, especially the rich corn-lands of
the Belka and Hauran, nearly all the grain is sent
to the western towns, and for shipment, by these
means.

The camel is by no means a pleasant animal with
which to deal, for while in some ways exceedingly
stupid, he has, on the other hand, a very good
memory, and never forgets or forgives an injury.
A young camel-driver whom I know was on one
occasion taking a load of charcoal to his village.
His camel was going along very sluggishly, and he
gave it three or four cuts with a switch ; this the
beast greatly resented. On arriving at his destina-
tion, he asked one of his brothers to unload the
camel, and fasten it up in its shed, as he felt sure,
from the habits of these animals, that it would take
the earliest opportunity of paying off its score. The
brother did so, feeding the beast and securing it
for the night. Later in the evening the young-
man had occasion to fetch something from the
shed where the camel was stabled. He rather
incautiously got within reach of the animal, which

186 SHEPHERDS, HERDSMEN, ETC.

was watching its opportunity. Quick as lightning
the creature seized the man by the arm with its
huge jaws, making the teeth meet in the flesh, and
shook him as a terrier shakes a rat, finally flinging
him, bruised and bleeding, with great violence
against the wall.

A Fellah from a village in Southern Palestine,
who owned a number of camels, once told me how,
on a certain occasion, he beat one of them for lazi-
ness. Next morning he started early, with some other
animals, for Jerusalem, and was absent for about a
fortnight. By the time that he had got back to
his village he had forgotten all about the incident,
but not so the camel. The instant the beast caught
sight of him it rushed at him, hunted him all over
the place, and would undoubtedly have killed him,
had not some men come to his rescue and beaten
it off.

Camels are subject to a good many diseases.
On one of my numerous missionary journeys I was
sitting on a threshing-floor talking to a little group
of men, when I suddenly heard a voice behind me
say : ' Would you look at this camel, sir V Turning
round, I saw a huge snarling beast standing over
me. ' What's the matter with it ?' I asked, * Well,
it's got the toothache,' was the reply, ' and I thought
perhaps you could pull its tooth out for it.' Cer-
tainly the poor creature seemed in much pain, for
it had a huge swollen cheek, caused by a large
abscess at the root of the tooth. But a camel, even
when in good health, is, to put it mildly, not a
sweet-tempered animal ; and one with the tooth-

BEAUTIFUL CAMELS 187

ache Well, I hope I was truly sympathetic,

but I must confess that I was much relieved to be
able to say that I had no instruments with me.

The camels are, I believe, always obtained from
the Bedouin, who rear very large numbers of them,
which they sell to the Fellahin, frequently stealing
them from one another for the purpose.

The Arabic word for camel is from the same
root as one of the commonest words for ' beautiful,'
a term which in its masculine and feminine forms
is frequently used as a name for boys and girls.
For long I used to wonder how the Arabs could
possibly associate the idea of beauty with the ill-
tempered, mangy, evil-smelling beast with which
one is so familiar in Palestine. But I found that
one reason of their ugliness is the custom the
Fellahin have of keeping their camels close-clipped,
and when I had seen the breed owned by the
Turcomans, with their clean, slender limbs, shaped
like those of a greyhound, and their long necks,
covered with great dark tawny manes — almost
like those of lions — I ceased to wonder at the
derivation of the word.

CHAPTER X

AGRICULTURE

In no country of the world, probably, is agriculture
of such supreme importance to the inhabitants as
it is in Palestine. Palestine has, as far as is now
known, no mineral wealth, neither are there any
manufactures other than the few local industries,
w r hich are barely sufficient to supply the local
needs. Consequently the country has nothing in
the way of exports with which to pay for its
imports, except the products of the soil, as wheat
and barley, oil and wine, etc.

The word ' Fellahin ' (more correctly ' Fellahun ')
is the plural of the word ' Fellah,' a word in the form
of the ' noun of intensity,' as Arab grammarians
call it, the form usually employed for words in-
dicating trade or occupation, and derived from the
verb falah, to cleave or divide — i.e., the earth ;
another ' measure ' of this same verb, aflah, means
to prosper, as the peasantry were formerly the
wealthy people, the cultivation of the soil being,
with cattle-rearing and sheep-keeping, the chief
source of wealth. The Fellahin, thus, are the
ploughmen, or farmers, and in any account of them

188

TILLAGE 189

the subject of the cultivation of the soil must take
a foremost place.

The soil of Palestine is for the most part a dark
reddish-brown, naturally suggesting the connection
between Adam and the ground from which he was
taken ; especially is this colour noticeable when the
soil is newly turned, either by the plough or in
digging.

It will, perhaps, be simplest to speak first of the
tenure of the land. Till within recent years — that
is, within the memory of many still living — the land
was held by the village as a whole, and not by the
individual peasants. Since, however, the Ottoman
Government commenced to levy taxes on the land
and crops it has become chiefly the property of
individuals, who must have title-deeds for the same,
duly registered in the Government offices.

In some cases, however, land is still held in
common, and before the ploughing begins it has to
be divided among those villagers who wish to culti-
vate any of it. Not all will wish to do so ; but in
one village I know, where land was held in common,
the following method was adopted for dividing it :
As soon as the number of would-be cultivators was
known, the land was marked out in an equal number
of portions, so as to give each an equivalent number
of portions of good, bad, and indifferent soil. Each
candidate brought with him a leaf of some tree or
plant, and these leaves were stuck into a lump of
clay. A man, not a candidate, but who knew the
land well, was called in and given this lump of clay ;
he did not know who had brought the different

v

190 AGRICULTURE

leaves, and therefore was perforce impartial. Taking
each leaf, he said, ' Such-and-such portion to the
owner of this,' and so on till all was allotted.

There are three descriptions of property, viz. :
Amiri (vulgarly Mm), or Government land ; Mulk>
or freehold ; and Wakf, ecclesiastical lands, or lands
in mortmain. The land of cities and villages, with
their suburbs, is freehold ; but the open fields are
Government land, their tenure answering, perhaps,
more nearly to our copyhold than to anything else,
the Government being, however, the person who
claims the ground rents. No one may build on
this Government land without permission from the
authorities, as it thereby becomes freehold, and so
is lost, as it were, to the Government. But anyone
buying a vineyard, or any other piece of such pro-
perty, has a right, should he so desire, to build
himself a dwelling-house on it, but even in this case
formal permission has by law to be obtained. Such
lands, if not cultivated for a series of years, lapse to
the Government. The ecclesiastical lands ( Wakf)
are the property of mosques, churches, schools, or
other institutions, religious or charitable. Included
under this head are lands in mortmain. Persons
sometimes leave property to their families, but, in
order to prevent its being sold away, grant it by
formal deed to a church, mosque, etc., on the
extinction of their family, so that as long as there
is any descendant of the testator existing the pro-
perty cannot be claimed by the church or other
institution, nor will the law allow it to be sold out
of that family. No lands coming under either

OWNERSHIP OF FRUIT-TREES 191

description of Wakf can be sold, except by permis-
sion of the Sheikh ul Islam in Constantinople.
This difficulty is sometimes got over, however, by
a legal fiction known as Istibddl, or 'exchange,'
where the property which it is wished to sell is
supposed to be exchanged for a better one. Besides
the above descriptions of property, there is a great
deal of land, and much of it some of the best
in the country, which is the Sultan's personal
property, and which is farmed for him by an
agent.

When land is sold, if there be trees upon it,
these are not sold with it unless this is specially
agreed upon, and entered accordingly in the deed
of sale. The purchase by Abraham of the cave
of Machpelah and the adjacent land, with the
trees (Gen. xxiii. 17), shows how very ancient is
this custom. It is no uncommon thing for the
land to belong to one man, and the trees to another.
I know of a case, and doubtless there are other
similar cases, where the ground belongs to one
village, and the trees on it to another.

In another case land was purchased for philan-
thropic purposes by a committee, of which I was a
member, but we were only able to buy a third of
the trees — that is to say, we did not buy out and out
one-third of the total number of trees on the estate,
but a right to a third of their produce.

Should the owner of the trees allow them, by his
neglect, to disappear, he loses all right over the land,
and cannot replant them. On the other hand, the
owner of the trees can oblige the owner of the land

192 AGRICULTURE

to till it, as otherwise the trees deteriorate, and
their value is consequently diminished.

Before describing the actual operations of agri-
culture, a few words are necessary about the climate
of Palestine and the rains. For the most part the
climate is an intensely dry one. For six months,
viz., from the end of April to the beginning of
November, there is, as a rule, no rain whatever.
Very occasionally a shower will occur in summer,
but this is quite abnormal. By the end of the
summer the herbage is dried up, except in the rare
cases where there are permanent streams or irriga-
tion, and the leaves of the deciduous trees are fall-
ing, the only green in many places being that of the
olive. The passing traveller who sees the shepherd
leading his flock over the bare brown hillside or
desert-like plain wonders how the sheep and goats
can possibly exist.

The winter torrents have long since ceased to
run, the shallower springs have become dry, and
the permanent ones have shrunk to their lowest
ebb. The rain-fed cisterns, the sole water-supply
of many a village, have in numerous cases been
drained to the last drop, and in the majority of
those which are not exhausted the depth of water
is measured by inches only. The SMrocco, or east
winds from the Syrian desert, have swept with their
scorching breath over the land. The heavy red
loam, which constitutes so large a part of the
arable soil of Palestine, is baked into strong clods
which the feeble plough cannot break. Wild birds
and animals have become bold in their thirst, and

FORMER AND LATTER RAIN 193

there is an intensity of longing for the rain, unknown
in more-favoured lands. About the end of October
or beginning of November, in favourable years,
clouds begin to gather on the western horizon,
especially at sunset. Distant lightning plays across
the sky, and an occasional shower, chiefly at night,
gives promise of what is to follow. After a few
days the clouds gather more thickly, the roll of
thunder is heard,, and finally the windows of heaven
seem to open, and torrents of rain descend. The
Fellahin have seen the storm coming, and all pre-
parations have been made. The earthen roofs of
the houses have been repaired, fresh soil having
been scattered over them and rolled hard ; the
underground cisterns have been cleared out, and
the channels leading to them put in order ; oxen
have been bought or trained ; ploughs have been
mended and goads put in order, or new ones pro-
cured ; the earth round the fruit-trees has been
hoed up ; and in the plains faggots have been
placed against the walls of the houses on the
weather side, in exposed situations, and especially
at the corners, that the rain may not wash away
the mud of which they are composed.

As in olden days, there are still the former and
the latter rains, and it is of the utmost importance
for the crops that these should fall in their due
season (Deut. xi. 14). There seems to be a good
deal of confusion in some Western minds about
these rains, due, probably, to the fact, often for-
gotten, that the Jewish year began at a different
time to ours. The ecclesiastical new year com-

13

194 AGRICULTURE

menced on the first of Nisan, which coincides,
approximately, with our April, and the civil year
in September. Consequently the former rains will
be those which fall in our autumn — October,
November, and December. This is what in normal
years is the case. Then usually, from about the
beginning of December, is a period of dry weather
or but slight rainfall, while from the middle or end
of January the latter rains may be said to com-
mence, continuing at intervals to April, or occa-
sionally even to May. These latter rains in ordinary
years are much the more abundant of the two,
this fact being probably the point of the passage
Zech. x. 1.

In the Lebanon and on the maritime plain of
Palestine the rains begin earlier than they do in
the central hill region. The average rainfall of
Palestine proper, as far as accurate observations
have been made, is about 26 inches per annum, but
in the Lebanon, and probably also in Northern
Palestine, it is a good deal higher.

The most suitable time for the rains to commence
is from the end of October to the end of November.
Should they begin earlier, there is too long an in-
terval between the former and the latter rains, and
the corn sown then withers before these later ones
are due. Should the season be very late, there is
not time for the corn to fully develop before the
rains finally cease and the hot weather sets in.

January is the coldest month, but there is popu-
larly supposed to be always a spell of sharp weather
about the end of February and the beginning of

THE < BORROWED DAYS ' 195

March. The last four days of the former month and
the three first of the latter are called the ' borrowed
days,' from the following story : February, so it
runs, having only twenty-eight days, goes to March,
and says, ' Oh, my brother ! lend me three days,
and I will put four to them, and we will make it
so cold that the old woman will break up her
spinning-wheel to burn to keep herself warm.'

As the ploughing-time gets near, the Fellahin
may often be seen trying a newly-purchased yoke
of oxen (St. Luke xiv. 19) on one of the small
enclosed patches of ground near the village, or
breaking in a young animal that has never before
been under the yoke. In the latter case, an older
one, accustomed to the work, is always yoked with
the younger one, thus helping to teach it.

When the rains are near, or when only a small
amount insufficient to saturate the soil has fallen,
they sometimes plough over the ground simply to
break it up. No seed, of course, is then sown, and
the furrows are wider apart than when the regular
ploughing takes place. Where ground is so treated
the heavy autumnal showers soak in more thoroughly
than when the smooth, sun-baked surface, trodden
hard by the flocks and herds, is left in its natural
state.

In some few cases ploughing and sowing can be
done before the rains come. In places where the
soil is light enough to allow of this, as, e.g., in
some parts of the Belka, east of the Jordan, I have
seen considerable tracts sown before a drop of rain
falls ; such crops are called ' Aj'ir. This practice

18—2

196 AGRICULTURE

has one advantage over that usually followed — viz.,
that crops so sown get the benefit of the whole of
the rainfall, no small matter in a hot country where
the cessation of the rain two or three weeks earlier
or later may make all the difference between a good
and a bad harvest. On the other hand, weeds are
much more abundant than with the ordinary method,
thus exhausting the soil and weakening the crop.

In the late spring severe thunderstorms occur
now and then, accompanied with deluges of rain,
which sometimes do immense harm. Some years
ago one of these storms took place during the feast
of Neby Miisa. A party of Moslem pilgrims from
a village about three hours north of Jerusalem was
on its way to the shrine, their road being along the
bottom of one of the numerous valleys which run
down from the central ridge towards the Gh6r.
Seeing the storm approaching, they all took refuge
in a cave, and when it broke torrents of rain poured
down the steep sides of the mountain in thousands
of tiny streams, increasing in volume every moment ;
and as each gully and glen added its quota, the
valley, which had been as dry as the desert, became
filled with a raging flood, which swept everything
before it with pitiless power. The water rose
rapidly to the mouth of the cave, and the people
in it, seeing their danger, sought to escape. A
man took his two little boys, one under each arm,
and tried to struggle through the torrent to the
other side, but first one and then the other was
swept from his grasp and drowned before his eyes ;
and of all the people, thirty or forty in number.

5
rap

*r^v$l

1 m

PLOUGHING 197

who had taken refuge in the cave, scarcely any-
remained to tell the tale. It is to such a torrent
coming down the valley, like a wall of water, and
sweeping all before it, that Solomon likens the
oppression of the poor (Pro v. xxviii. 3).

Should the rain be much delayed, and the crops
be in danger of drying up, the children go about
the villages beating drums, old tins, or anything
else that will make a noise, shouting and singing in
chorus the following words : ' Oh, Lord ! rain — oh,
Lord ! a torrent ; water Thy thirsty crops.' The
idea in children doing this is that they are not so
sinful as the older people, and that therefore God
is more likely to hear their prayers. In the Jebel
Ajlun, on the other hand, in seasons of drought,
they take an old woman, preferably the sheikh's
wife, and putting her on a donkey, with her face
to its tail, the women lead her round the village,
singing and praying for rain.

When the rain has fallen in sufficient quantity?
ploughing and sowing begin at once. The seed is
sown, usually, on the unploughed land, the plough
following immediately and turning it in with the
soil. The share does not, however, turn over the
soil as in the case of an English plough, but merely
breaks it up from below, the seed falling in between
the clods. Besides the cases where land is partially
ploughed before sowing, as already mentioned,
peasants who have plenty of oxen will occasionally
break up land three times before sowing the seed,
this latter operation taking place on the third
ploughing, and where this is done the crop is said

198 AGRICULTURE

to be always superior to that sown on land ploughed
but once.

The ploughing is chiefly done by oxen, and the
ordinary term for a yoke of oxen, Fcddan, is used
for the area which they will plough in a day.
Although there are no hedges or walls to divide
the different properties, the land is usually ploughed
in small plots, a furrow, 77////, of 30 or 40 yards
being run on the ground, and others ploughed
parallel to this, till a piece of that length and about
half the breadth is finished ; and then a second
similar piece is ploughed next, and so on till the
whole is completed. These plots are called McCandh.
and are usually one-third or one-fourth of a Feddcui,
and in some parts of the maritime plain this is used
as a measure of land instead of the latter term.
In the hill districts, on the terraced sides of the
valleys and mountains, the shape and size of the
piece ploughed at one time is determined by the
dimensions of the terraces. Where two men's land
adjoins each other, a double furrow is driven be-
tween the two plots, and piles of stones are set up
at short intervals in this furrow. There is a refer-
ence to this practice in Hos. xii. 11, the idea there
being that the altars of the idolatrous Israelites
were as numerous as the boundary heaps in a wide
stretch of arable land.

Although oxen are chiefly used to draw the
plough, yet one not unfrequently sees oxen and
asses yoked together, a practice forbidden to the
Israelites (Deut. xxii. 10). The Fellahin recognise
the disparity of such a pair, and often contrive to

THRESHING CORN.

l'LOl/GIIINfi.

page 198.

TERRACING 199

give the ox, as being the stronger animal of the
two, the outside at corners, etc. In some places
they use camels largely for this work, and occasion-
ally a diminutive donkey may be seen attached to
the same plough with a tall camel, forming as
grotesquely ill-matched a pair as it is possible to
imagine. Mules, horses, and in a few districts
buffaloes, are also harnessed — the two former,
singly, to a plough. It is said not to be unknown,
either, for a poor man, who only owns a single ass,
to harness his wife to make up the pair ! Where the
land is fairly level it is common for the people to
plough in company (1 Kings xix. 19), and on the
maritime plain, between Jaffa and Gaza, I have
seen upwards of sixty ploughs at work at one time,
in a comparatively small area.

One noticeable feature of the agriculture of Pales-
tine is the Terraces— Hibdl (lit., ropes or cords)— to
be found everywhere throughout the hill country,
and attaining great perfection in the Lebanon.
The sides of the hills and valleys are often very
steep, and in order to prevent the earth being
washed away by the heavy rains, as well as to
facilitate cultivation, are carefully terraced. These
terraces are formed by building low retaining walls
of rough, undressed stone, without mortar, in lines
parallel to the line of the valley, the earth being
levelled up behind to the top of the wall. These
terraces vary greatly in depth and width, the walls
being often only a foot or eighteen inches in height,
but sometimes, where there is a line of natural
rock below on which the wall rests, 7 or 8 feet,

200 AGRICULTURE

while occasionally they are much higher even than
this.

The natural shelves of rock, which are very
characteristic of the geological formation of much
of Palestine, no doubt originally suggested these
artificial terraces, which date from very ancient
times, as is seen by the traces of them in remote
parts of the country where there has been no
cultivation for ages. In the districts where vine
and fruit-trees are grown, the terraces add much to
the beauty of the hillsides. A row of fig-trees,
mulberries, etc., will often be seen planted near the
outer edge, where the soil is deepest, and in the
spaces between them and the wall of the terrace
above vegetables will be grown, or the land
will be ploughed, and corn, lentils, or other crops,
sown there. Vines are commonly planted close to
the outer wall, the branches being trained so that
they hang down over it. In the early summer,
when the vines are in their fresh green foliage, the
picture, as one looks at such a terraced hillside from
below, with cascade after cascade of brilliant verdure
relieved by the darker hue of the olive and fig, the
warm red-brown colour of the soil, and the gray of
the stone walls peeping out here and there, is very
beautiful.

Where there are no trees, as is commonly the case,
the terraces look like a great staircase of irregular,
uneven steps, ascending the hills. In places these
terraces are very numerous, especially on the sides
of the deeper valleys, and in the Lebanon I have
counted between seventy and eighty of them one

PLOUGHS 201

above the other ; and very likely in some parts there
are more than even this number to be found on a
single hillside.

When men are ploughing or engaged in any
other field labour, they usually take off their outer
cloak, or sheepskin coat, and throw it on the ground
beside them. To this custom our Lord alludes in
St. Matt. xxiv. 18. The assault of the enemy
would be so sudden and unexpected, that he who
would save his life must not even delay long
enough to go back the few yards necessary to get
his clothes. This would be true even to-day in
Palestine when raids are made by robbers or
Bedouin.

The wooden ploughs which are universally used,
rude and primitive as they seem to a Western eye,
are eminently suited to the work they have to
perform, and are more complex than would appear
at a hasty glance, having been probably evolved,
by the teaching of experience, from a simpler form.
The plough itself, apart from the yoke, consists of
six main parts which, with slight variations of
detail, are found everywhere throughout the
country. The most important part is the elbow -
shaped piece of wood (Dthikr) — No. 1 in the accom-
panying sketch. On this comes the main strain,
and therefore it is, I believe, invariably a naturally
curved piece of timber, as no conceivable joint
would stand for long the severe work thrown on it.
On the lower end of this fits the iron share {Sikkeh),
Xo. 2, a term often applied to the whole plough, as
in the saying, ' April's rain is worth the plough and

202 AGRICULTURE

yoke of oxen.' A smaller, slightly curved piece of
wood (Rakub), No. 3, joins No. 1 with 4 (Id or Ydd),
which is dovetailed into the former, and terminates
in a cross-piece of wood (Kabitseh), No. 6, the two
forming the handle by which the plough is lifted
and guided. Into the upper end of No. 1 is secured
a long pole (Barak or 'Oud), No. 5, and to this a
second tapering stick is fastened, usually by a
couple of iron rings ( JFasl), No. 8, which completes
the implement, this latter pole being attached at
its further end to the yoke, by means of an iron pin
(J aru?'). The yoke (Nir) consists of a long, stout
piece of wood in which are four pegs (Semnaneh),
No. 1, which go on either side of the necks of the
oxen, and are secured by thongs or cords (Shebak),
No. 2, under their throats, one of each pair of
cords having a loop at the end, and the other
a wooden toggle (Asfureli). These cords are often
made of hair from the tails of cattle — hence the
proverb, ' The ox's cord [which binds him to the
yoke] is from its own tail.' It will be noticed how
little iron is used in the construction of these
ploughs, nails, even, being for the most part
replaced by wooden pegs, and consequently there is
probably more yielding of the whole when, as is so
often the case in the hilly parts, it comes into
sudden contact with a hidden rock or huge stone.

Spades are unknown in Palestine ; a broad heart-
shaped hoe is used instead in most parts of the
country, and in the sandy districts of the maritime
plain a similar instrument, but with a different
blade, somewhat the shape of, and almost as large

IRRIGATION 203

as, an English spade, is ordinarily found. In the
mountains, or anywhere where the soil is hard or
stony, a rude kind of pick is employed — e.g., as in
breaking up the corners of a field where the plough
cannot reach.

When the corn begins to grow, the weeds appear
with it, and when the latter attain any size they
are pulled up carefully, and carried away in bundles
by the women, being used as fodder for the horses,
cattle, and camels, a custom apparently referred to
in Prov. xxvii. 25, R.V. In the Lebanon the
coarser weeds, thistles, brambles, and such-like, are
cut and dried, and then used for fuel for the bakers 1
ovens.

There is a considerable amount of irrigation in
those parts of the country fortunate enough to
possess permanent streams. More particularly is
this the case in the Ghor and the valleys running
down into it, as the Zerka or Jabbok, Nimrin, and
Yarmuk, on the east, Jalud, Farah, and Aujeh, on
the west, all of which have perennial brooks of
considerable volume. In these wadies, and the
level lands along their courses in the Jordan Valley,
immense areas are ploughed and sown every year,
and, being watered by these streams, are independent
of the rains, producing luxuriant crops of grain
even when the harvest is a failure everywhere else.

To come suddenly on one of these watered
tracts after riding for hours, or perhaps days, over
the scorched, verdureless plains, where not a blade
of grass nor green leaf is to be seen, and note the
abundance of life in all its tropical luxuriance

204

AGRICULTURE

wherever the river comes, is as refreshing as it is
striking.

In the neighbourhood of Beisan, where there are
miles and miles of such irrigated lands, tall plat-
forms are erected on poles among the growing
wheat and barley, and on them are perched watch-
men, as the grain develops, to scare away the wild
birds and animals, keep the cattle from straying
into the crops, and give warning of the attempts of
robbers.

1>

Coad

CHAPTER XI

AGRICULTURE (cOTltimicd)

As might be supposed in a country where there is
such a great variety of climate, the time of harvest
differs much in the various parts. Thus, I have
known the new barley (the earliest crop) on sale,
from the neighbourhood of Gaza, in the middle of
March ; while, on the other hand, I have seen
barley still growing on the higher parts of the
Lebanon in August. In the neighbourhood of
Jerusalem harvest operations are ordinarily in full
swing by the end of April or the beginning of May.

When the corn is ripe, the whole family often
goes out into the harvest-field. Men and women
take part in the reaping ; the elder children, boys
and girls, drive the animals which carry the grain
to the threshing-floors, and the younger children
play about ; while the babies are hung in a kind of
bag to a tripod of sticks, or sheltered under a cloak
thrown over the tripod.

The corn is cut by the reaper grasping a handful,
some distance below the ears, with his left hand, and
severing the stalks with a stroke of the sickle an
inch or two above the ground. In many cases,

205

206 AGRICULTURE

especially where the soil is shallow or stony, the
grain is pulled bodily up by the roots. The corn is
placed in small piles on the ground, and usually
carried away at once to the threshing-floors. In
the maritime plain I have seen low stacks of corn
on the field. These are, however, only temporary,
the reason of the corn being left thus being, pro-
bably, the abundance of the crop, and the lack
of space on which to store it on the threshing-
floors. It is usually carried on the backs of animals
from the field to the threshing-floors, being cleverly
tied in bundles in great quantities on the animal's
back, or packed in nets, and thus can be conveyed
great distances over rough ground without loss.
At harvest-time a moving mass of corn may often
be met coming along the narrow paths on the
mountain-side. As these animated ricks approach,
one can make out underneath each mass, and
almost entirely concealed by it, a diminutive
donkey, little of it being visible but its head and
ears. The work is extremely severe, and in very
hilly districts many donkeys are worked to death
during harvest. The people themselves also toil
very hard during the brief reaping-time. I have
seen them busy in the fields at three o'clock in the
morning, long before daybreak.

The harvest in the southern part of Palestine,
especially in the plains about Gaza, is much earlier
than in Central Palestine, and is also more abundant,
being often more than the people of the village can
reap in reasonable time. Consequently they are
glad to get outside help, and many of the Fellahin

GLEANERS 207

from the hills go to the plains to help in getting in
the wheat and barley. They generally receive as
wages a certain quantity of cut corn, each day's
amount being known as Kirwek. They beat out
the grain, bringing it home at the end of the
harvest, when it forms a welcome addition to the
year's provision.

People will also not unfrequently help friends
and neighbours to get in their harvest. Especially
is this the case if one have finished before another,
or if anything delays the threshing. Sometimes a
dozen or more men and women may thus be seen
in line reaping, and it is astonishing to note the
rate at which they will clear the ground.

The very poor, who have no crops of their own,
glean by the wayside and in the fields, and even
sometimes, by permission of the owner, as Ruth
did, among the sheaves (Ruth ii. 7, 15-17). When
they have gleaned a quantity, they take it to some
flat spot conveniently near and beat out the grain
(Ruth ii. 17). The straw being of no use to them,
they leave it there, and in going about the country
at this season one often comes upon little heaps of
straw by the wayside thus left there by the gleaners.

As the corn is brought in from the field it is
piled up on the threshing-floors. These are open
level spaces, in or around the villages as a rule, the
floor being preferably rock, or, failing that, hard
flat ground, and freely exposed to the wind. Here
the corn is stacked up in great piles preparatory
to threshing, and here the proprietor spreads his
mattress at night, sleeping on the heap of straw or

208 AGRICULTURE

beside the winnowed grain, to guard it against loss
by thieves or fire. When all the crop has been
thus brought in it is measured, to estimate the
amount each farmer has to pay towards the total
sum at which the village tithes are assessed, and no
one is allowed to begin threshing till this is settled.

Some hill villages have land both in the hills and
in the plains, the latter being often at a great
distance from their homes. Where this is the case
during the harvest in the plains (which, as already
mentioned, is much earlier than that in the hills,
the difference being from a month to six weeks,
according to the greater or less difference in alti-
tude), the greater part of the population of the
village goes down to the low ground for the harvest
and threshing, locking up their houses, and leaving
only a few people to look after the place. When
the harvest in the plain is secured, or that in the
high ground is ripe, they return to their homes.

When all is ready for the threshing, and the
requisite permission has been given, a mass of corn
is piled up in a circular heap in the centre of the
floor. This heap, called in some places 'Aram, is
from 20 to 30 feet in diameter, and about 3 feet
deep. Several head of cattle, with perhaps one or
two donkeys, fastened together by their headstalls,
are driven round and round on this pile till the
grain is fully separated from the straw and the
latter is broken up. When the string of animals
has been going round and round in one direction
for about ten minutes, it is stopped and made to
face about, the animal on the outside now taking the

THRESHING 209

inside, and proceeding in the reverse direction for
another ten minutes, when a change is made back to
the original order and direction. This is continually
repeated as long as the animals remain at work.
As this treading process goes on, the separated
grain, being the heavier part, falls to the bottom,
the straw which remains at the top becoming
gradually broken up and bruised, till it somewhat
resembles the chaff used for feeding horses and
other animals in England. The whole heap is
turned over now and then, and in from a day and a
half to two days the process is complete.

For this work the oxen are generally shod with
iron, and, just before the threshing begins, men
whose special business this is come round to the
different villages and shoe the oxen at so much
a head. As soon as the Fellah judges that
the straw is sufficiently crushed, he proceeds to
separate it from the grain. The greater part of
this straw, lying at the top of this heap, is easily
removed by hand ; but much still remains mixed
with the grain, and in order to separate this, as
soon as the breeze, which at this time of year
usually blows from noon onwards, gets up, he
takes a wooden fork (Mithrd) having five flat
prongs, and with it throws up the mixture of grain
and straw several feet into the air. The corn falls
back nearly on the same spot, but the straw is
carried a longer or shorter distance according to
the strength of the breeze (Ps. i. 4 ; Isa. xvii. 13).

This straw is divided into two parts ; the finer
and softer parts ( 7V/;;/) are used as fodder for horses

14

210 AGRICULTURE

and cattle. This Tibn is a very important product
of the crop, as it takes the place of hay, which is
unknown in Palestine, for feeding horses, etc. The
length of the stalk of the corn depends largely on
the amount of rain which has fallen during the
growth of the plant. Cceteris paribus, the stalk is
always shorter than in England ; and in years of
little rainfall the yield of Tibn is consequently very
deficient, and the cattle suffer considerably as a
result. Tibn from barley is the best for fodder,
that from whe°+ being harsher and less nourishing.
The coarsest part, consisting of the joints, lower
parts of the stems and roots, called Kashu, is used
by the Fellahin for heating their ovens, and about
Gaza the potters buy it to burn in the kilns.

The method of treading out the corn just
described is that most commonly adopted, but in
many places, instead of doing this by the feet of
cattle, an instrument called N&terqj is employed for
the purpose. This consists of a large thick plank
of wood, turned up in front, and hewn out of a
solid piece of timber. A number of holes are
drilled in the under side, and into these are fixed
pointed pieces of basalt or flint, projecting half or
three-quarters of an inch (Isa. xli. 15). The corn
is put in a heap, as described above, and this board,
drawn by a pair of oxen or a single horse or mule,
is driven round and round on it, the driver standing
on it to give it additional weight, and so make it
more effective. The corn is separated and the
straw cut up rather more quickly by this method
than by the other, but I do not think that the

MUZZLED OXEN 211

resultant straw for fodder, the Tibn, is of so good a
quality.

The grain, after being separated from the straw
and chaff, is cleaned from earth, etc., by sifting in
a sieve, and then piled up in a heap on the floor.
This heap is known as Salibeh, from the word for a
cross, as the Christians, and many Moslems also.
make the mark of a cross on it with the handle of
the winnowing fork, for good luck, sticking the
fork afterwards in the middle of the heap, prongs
upwards. The grain is then stored away in the
corn-bins in the houses or in sacks ; the Tibn also
is stored for future use.

In the hill districts, in a few villages the cattle
treading out the corn are muzzled, though in most
places this is not the case, and they are allowed,
as they tramp their weary round, to eat as much as
they please (Deut. xxv. 4 ; 1 Cor. ix. 9). The
muzzle where used is of two kinds, the simpler
being a ring made of a twig of mulberry or willow
placed round the mouth of the animal, and kept in
its place by two strings, one on each side, fastened
to its horns ; the other kind consists of a sort of
wicker basket covering the mouth and nose, and
secured in the same way as the other to the horns.

During the time that the corn is being trodden
out by the cattle they require much water, as they
are working hard for many hours in the hot sun ;
and in some places two or three men are specially
hired for the purpose of drawing water for the
oxen and asses to drink, receiving as wages a certain
quantity of corn per head.

14—2

212 AGRICULTURE

Before storing the corn it is measured, which is
done in the following manner : The man who does
it squats down on the ground beside the heap of corn,
with the measure between his legs ; then, filling the
measure about three-quarters full, he gives it a
vigorous shake with a rotatory motion, making the
grain settle closely down ; next, filling it to the top.
he gives it another shake, and then proceeds to
press the corn down with both hands, using all his
strength in doing so. This done, he piles up a
conical mound of wheat or barley, gently patting
it the while to press it together, and from time to
time making a small hollow at the top, into which
he pours the corn till it can literally not hold a
grain more. This is the way corn is always
measured, and to give less than this would not
be good or full measure ; it is to this universal
custom that our Lord's words (St. Luke vi. 38)
refer. To measure thus is called 'Arram, one of
their common proverbs being suggested by it —
' 'Arrim li wa uarrim lak ' (Give me full measure,
and I will give you full measure).

In counting the measures, the man who is doing
it continues calling out the number of the previous
one while filling the next. Many Mohammedans,
when measuring, say for the first one, ' God is One/
and for the next, ' He has no second,' then simply
' Three,' ' Four,' and so on. There are several unlucky
numbers, the first being five, and therefore, instead
of saying the number, they often say ' Your hand,'
five being the number of the fingers ; seven is
another unlucky number, strange to say, and is

MEASURING CORN 213

passed over in silence, or the word ' A blessing ' is
used instead ; at nine Moslems often say, ' Pray in
the name of Mohammed '; eleven also is not un-
frequently omitted, the measurer saying, ' There are
ten,' and then passing on to twelve.

The Kal, or standard measure of corn, varies
greatly in different parts of the country. In some
places the Sda is the unit, in others the Midd.
Again, even where the same name is given to the
measure in different places, the capacity is not the
same : thus, the Jerusalem Sda is not the same as
the Nablus one ; while in some places there are
two measures of the same name, being distinguished
as ' the measure ' and ' the large measure.'

When the Fellahin take their grain to town to
sell it, a professional measurer is sometimes called
in, who receives (in Jerusalem) half a piastre — about
one penny — for each Sda. There is a Government
standard measure, but in the villages, especially in
the more remote districts, the people do not trouble
themselves about such things. On one occasion,
when travelling east of the Jordan, I saw a man
riding along with a corn-measure hung from his
saddle-bow, and on being asked why he carried it
with him, his reply was that some months before
he had purchased corn from two men in a village
near, the terms being that at harvest he was to
repay a certain number of measures of grain, the
men stipulating that the same measuring vessel
should be used as on the former occasion, and he
was now on his way to pay his debt.

The principal crops are those already mentioned

214 AGRICULTURE

— viz., wheat and barley — but there are many
others beside them. Lentils and a species of vetch,
the seeds of which are used for feeding cattle, are
widely grown, and are the earliest of all crops.
Two other important crops are millet — the white
variety, which is very largely grown in the maritime
plain. Jordan Valley, and other parts where the soil
is deep enough and sufficiently rich — and sesame
(Sesamum orientale). This latter, which is familiar
enough by name to readers of the ' Arabian Nights,'
is not, as frequently supposed, a grain, but the seed
of a slender, branched herbaceous plant, 18 inches to
2 feet in height, with pale pink bell-shaped flowers,
a little like those of our common foxglove, which
are succeeded by long, narrow pods containing a
number of brown seeds. When fully ripe these
pods open at a mere touch, so that the Fellahin
cut the sesame before it is quite ripe, stacking it
usually on the roofs of the houses till fit for thresh-
ing, when the seeds are beaten out with a stick.
These seeds contain a large quantity of oil, which
is used in cooking as a substitute for olive-oil and
animal fats ; the residue after the oil is expressed is
used for feeding goats and sheep, which devour it
greedily. The entire seeds are used in some sweet-
meats, and are scattered on cakes. Both millet
and sesame are sown in the late spring, and are
called ' summer crops.'

In the plains large quantities of water-melons are
grown, especially in the sandy soil about Ramleh
and Lydd, and are sent all over the country. As
the melons begin to ripen, little booths, consisting

TOBACCO 215

of four upright poles, with a light roof as a shelter
from the sun, are 'erected in each patch, and here
a keeper or watchman lives for weeks guarding the
crop.

Tobacco is also cultivated to a considerable ex-
tent, but, as it is a Government monopoly, managed
by a syndicate, it can only be grown by permission
of the authorities, who, on the application of the
villagers of any place, allow a certain area to be
planted, buying the crop when ripe. It is very
remunerative, and so various attempts, and often
successful ones, are made to outwit the authorities,
and to grow much larger quantities than those
allowed.

Not long ago information was sent to the local
representatives of this syndicate in a certain district,
about the time that the plants were ripe, that a
village which had obtained a concession for growing
tobacco had a much larger area sown with it than
was allowed by the permit. Shortly after this an
official of the syndicate, accompanied by several
mounted gens cFarmes, arrived one evening at the
village. The elders of the place, who knew very
well why they had come, received them most
cordially ; they were conducted to the guest-house,
and after a while an excellent meal was put before
them. Supper over, their hosts entertained them
with interesting conversation, and after a time they
retired to rest well pleased with their reception.
When the visitors were safely asleep, the entire
population of the village turned out, and long ere
dawn the whole of the extra crop of tobacco had

216 AGRICULTURE

been harvested in excellent condition, and not a
trace left on the plots where it had been sown, to
show that there had been tobacco there within
the memory of man. Next morning the official
politely intimated to the sheikh the object of his
visit, and was assured with equal courtesy that
every facility would be given him to inspect the
crop. This he proceeded to do, when it was
found that the precise area mentioned in the
official permission was planted, neither more nor
less. The man returned home, and no doubt
reported to his chief that the people of this
village were a most gentlemanly set of men, and
that the report about the extra tobacco crop was
a malicious invention.

They do not, however, always get the best of
such attempts. I was once staying for a couple
of days at a Moslem village whose inhabitants
had been refused permission to grow tobacco
that year. A rumour, however, had reached the
authorities that, notwithstanding this refusal, the
people were growing it as usual, and a man was
sent to investigate. A hint that he was coming-
had been conveyed to the villagers, and when he
appeared on the scene not a trace of a tobacco-
plant was visible in the little patches of land in
and around the village where it is usually grown.
The official, his wits quickened by experience,
suspected certain plots whose surface was some-
what uneven, though no one not trained to the
work would have thought this unevenness more
than natural. Sending for a hoe, he quickly laid

HIRED LABOUR 217

bare row after row of thriving tobacco-plants, so
artfully and carefully covered over with earth as
completely to conceal, and yet leave uninjured, the
precious crop. A few minutes' vigorous work with
his hoe, however, put an end for that year to the
villagers' hopes of a tobacco harvest.

The people of some of the villages near the
Ghor are often partners with the Bedouin there.
The latter have much irrigated land, more than
they need to supply their wants, and being more
indolent than the Fellahin, they get them to
assist in the cultivation of their land, the Fellahin
taking their own cattle and ploughs, and receiving
one-fourth of the produce as payment. From one
village north of Jerusalem a number of people go
every year to the Belka, to assist the people of
Madeba in ploughing, as the lands of that village
are so extensive that they have not men or cattle
enough of their own to get the work done in the
comparatively short season. In return for this
help they receive one-fifth of the produce, the
owners of the land bearing all the expenses and
finding the seed.

In the case of friendly help from neighbours, the
Fellah, on the conclusion of the threshing, makes
a feast to which he invites all who have given him
any assistance in getting in his crops ; this feast is
called Juralt.

In addition to the crops already mentioned, peas
and beans of various kinds, onions, garlic, tomatoes,
carrots, turnips, beetroot, maize, cucumbers, sweet-
melons, gourds, egg-plant, cauliflowers, cabbages,

218 AGRICULTURE

etc., are grown. In fields of cucumber and other
vegetables, the booths already mentioned under
the account of the melon-fields are often to be
found. These booths or sheds are frequently
referred to in the Old Testament (Job xxvii. 18,
xxiv. 20; Lam. ii. 6; Jonah iv. 5), and are very
common now. They vary greatly in size and
durability. Some are of the flimsiest description,
and can be put up and taken down in a few
minutes, which is doubtless the point of the
allusion in Job xxvii. 18. They consist of a few
leafy boughs, supported on four sticks, as a slight
shelter from the sun. Some are much more sub-
stantial and roomy. Indeed it is not uncommon
for a whole family to live in one of these booths,
in their vineyards, throughout the summer, es-
pecially where the vineyard is at a great distance
from the village, and where the grapes are to be
chiefly made into raisins. Occasionally a broad-
leaved gourd is trained over the booth to give
additional shade (Jonah iv. 6).

In such a dry climate as Palestine, every spring,
however small, is utilized to the utmost for irri-
gating gardens of fruit-trees and vegetables, and
water rights are therefore very valuable. As the
springs for the most part come out on the sides
of the valleys, it is easy to water a series of
terraces, at different levels, from the same source,
the little rivulet sometimes reaching a long
distance down the valley before it is finally ab-
sorbed. At times the traveller will come suddenly
on a deep glen whose brilliant green gardens and

WATERED GARDENS 219

fruit-laden trees form a striking contrast to the bare
hillsides around. Descending into the valley, he
will find issuing from a mass of fallen rocks, gray
with the storms of centuries, a little thread of
water, clear and cool, which runs into a large
open cistern hewn in the solid rock, or built
on the side of a natural terrace, and carefully
cemented all round the inside. Here, from the
neighbouring village, come at morning and even-
ing troops of laughing girls or careworn women,
with their pitchers on their heads, to draw water.
Here, too, in the heat of the day, come the
shepherds with their thirsty flocks, the goats and
sheep patiently standing waiting their turn to
come, at the shepherd's bidding, and slake their
thirst, or lying quietly chewing the cud in the
shade of the overhanging rocks or under the
shadow of a leafy tree. In the larger cisterns
the boys of the hamlet at evening dive and swim,
shouting and splashing and enjoying the fun like
any English lads. The cistern has a hole in the
outer wall, close to the bottom, for the purpose
of drawing off the water when required. From
here the little stream flows by a series of channels
into the level terraces of garden ground, these
terraces being subdivided by little furrows into
rectangular plots at a slightly lower level than
that of the bed of the furrow, so that, when a
breach is made in the little low bank of the
latter, the water flows into the depressed area till
it is full, when the gardener with his foot or hoe
scrapes the earth into the breach, and the tiny
rivulet flows on to another plot.

l 2 l 20 AGRICULTURE

It was these regular plots of garden ground,
with their intersecting water-channels, which the
ordered fifties and hundreds, seated on the green
grass at the miraculous feeding of the five
thousand, suggested to the mind of St. Mark,
and which the 7rpo<Tiat irpaauu (chap. vi. 39) so
graphically describes. The gay appearance of the
multitudes recalling (as some writers have thought)
the bright flower-beds of a garden is an idea which
would never occur to an Oriental, as in the East
flowers are not thus grown. This method of irri-
gating is the watering with the foot (Deut. xi. 10),
so characteristic of the husbandry of Egypt, though
not by any means confined to that land.

In the maritime plain, especially in the orange-
gardens in the neighbourhood of Jaffa, irrigation
is carried on from large wells, 60 to 100 feet in
depth, from which water is pumped by means of
an endless chain of earthenware jars or wooden
buckets, passing over a wooden wheel, and dipping
into the water at the bottom. This wheel is on
a horizontal shaft which carries a second and larger
wheel, and rests on masonry pillars 10 and 12 feet
high. This second wheel really consists of two,
side by side, about a foot apart, and connected at
their rims by a large number of bars of wood
driven through both at short intervals, thus form-
ing rude cogs. Into these work a number of pegs
fixed in the rim of another smaller wheel which
is fastened to a vertical shaft, and revolves hori-
zontally just below the larger one, being turned by
a horse, mule, or camel. The buckets or jars, as

IRRIGATION 221

they turn over, discharge their contents into a
large cistern, the bottom of which is at a somewhat
higher level than the surface of the ground, and
from which a number of cemented conduits or
channels conduct the water to every part of the
garden. The whole apparatus is clumsy in the
extreme, and there is, needless to say, great waste
of power, but the creaking, groaning Sakiyeh is a
great feature of the level plains of Palestine.

Yet another means of irrigation from shallow
wells, pools, and rivers, is the Shaduf, a long rod
swinging between two uprights by means of an
iron bar, which passes through a hole in it about
a third of its length from the bottom, to which
a heavy stone is attached in order to balance the
weight of the water in the bucket, which is fastened
by a rope to the upper end. This Shaduf, which
is so characteristic of Egypt, is but rarely seen in
Palestine.

The lack of water is, perhaps, the greatest physical
defect of the Holy Land at the present time, and
this has been greatly aggravated by the cutting
down of the forest trees. Indeed, it may be said
that one of the greatest needs of the land at the
present time, from the point of view of the agri-
culturist, is trees, as its reafforestation would largely
increase the volume of the springs, enabling much
more ground to be irrigated, and so rendering the
people less dependent on the immediate amount of
rain for their crops.

At the time of the conquest of Canaan under
Joshua, large tracts of country were covered with

AGRICULTURE

dense forest (Josh. xvii. 15, 18), and though, no
doubt, much of this was cleared by the Israelites,
yet a considerable area at subsequent periods seems
to have reverted to forest. Even now, here and
there, in remote valleys and glens, one comes upon
patches of woodland which look like relics of former
forests, and in certain districts such as Carmel, the
Jebel Ajlun (Gilead), Tabor, and some of the valleys
to the north-west, west, and south-west of Hebron,
considerable areas are yet covered with scrub of oak,
terebinth, oleaster, arbutus, locust-tree, etc. This
scrub, if protected, would soon develop into fine
timber trees, but charcoal-burners, lime-burners, and
others, are allowed to cut it in the most reckless
fashion, without let or hindrance.

The goats and sheep which are taken to these
tracts to graze are also responsible for much damage,
more especially the goats, as they are fond of
browsing on the young shoots of the shrubs. Bush
fires do a great deal of harm. The charcoal-burners,
when cutting the thicker branches, trim off the
smaller twigs on the spot, to save trouble ; these
drop among the shrubs and soon wither, and
become very dry ; a chance light sets the whole in
a blaze, and acres at a time are thus destroyed.

On Carmel and in the oak-woods in the hill
country east of the Jordan, the same wanton destruc-
tion of trees is caused by the custom, mentioned
elsewhere, of the shepherds cutting down branches
from the trees for their flocks. The branches lie
where they fall, consequently in a few years a tree
will be surrounded by a pile of brushwood as dry

NEED OF TREES 223

as tinder, and when a light is applied it burns like
gunpowder ; I have seen many trees, which took
centuries to reach their present size, killed in an hour
in this reckless fashion.

But what leads to even more regular and syste-
matic destruction of the small amount of remaining
forest trees than these causes is the increasing
demand for firewood. As the European popula-
tion grows, and as the natives adopt more widely
Western habits and luxuries, there is a largerdemand
every year for fuel ; and as the supply grows less,
not only are the trees cut down, but the very roots
are grubbed up, so that, if the present system is
allowed to continue, the little wood that is left will
soon have entirely disappeared. The steam flour-
mills are the greatest offenders in the matter, as
one such mill will, in the course of a year, consume
more than hundreds of houses. Many olive-trees,
too, are felled every year for the same purpose.
The poorer peasants have often nothing else sale-
able ; money they must have to meet the Govern-
ment demands, and, suicidal though the policy be,
as they themselves will often admit, yet, as they
truly say : • What can we do ? We must have
money to pay the Government, and we have nothing
else to sell ?'

Next to drought, the Fellahin have most to fear
from locusts. These pests appear from time to
time, and occasionally work terrible havoc, utterly
destroying the crops, devouring the leaves of the
trees, and even eating the bark of the twigs and
smaller branches. The most fertile districts when

224 AGRICULTURE

invaded by a swarm are left as bare as the desert.
It is many years since a really bad visitation of
locusts occurred in Palestine, and then they came
two years in succession, ravaging the country from
end to end. The Fellahin were then much better
off than they are now, and the supplies of corn,
dried figs, etc., were sufficient to carry them through
this period without much suffering ; but were such
a calamity to befall the country now, it M'ould
mean almost certain starvation to the larger number
of them. The year after the locusts the land
brought forth in extraordinary abundance, and men
say that they never saw such magnificent crops as
those of that year.

But though it is long since the whole country has
suffered from them, local visitations are by no means
uncommon, and do not always injure the crops.
I remember one such swarm in the Belka in the
month of July. The harvest had long been reaped,
and as there were no vineyards or oliveyards in
that part of the country, and the dry straw on the
threshing-floors was too hard for them to eat, they
could do no harm. This species was a small one
and covered the ground in all directions, rising up
in clouds under one's horse's feet, while the effect
of the sun on their light gauzy wings, as they were
borne along by the breeze, was that of a fall of
living snow.

But it is in the larval and not in the adult stage
that most damage is done by this scourge, and what
the Fellahin specially dread is the arrival of a swarm
in the spring-time, while the ground is soft, so that
in it their eggs are laid, to emerge a year later in

LOCUSTS 225

a countless host of wingless larva?, each one of
which devours thrice its own weight of food in
twenty-four hours. The extraordinary fecundity
of this insect is described in a curious Arabic
proverb which runs, ' The locust laid a hundred
eggs, and remarked, " What a very small family !" '
When, however, the soil is hard, the eggs remain
on the surface and are devoured by birds, or are
swept away by the heavy autumnal rains. They
are then also easily collected by hand, and during
a recent invasion of locusts, east of the Jordan, the
local authorities ordered each person in the district
to bring in a certain weight of the eggs, which
were then destroyed. The locust has natural
enemies also, which destroy vast quantities. A
few years ago, crossing the Plain of Jezreel, I saw
millions of locusts among the millet (which was
just in ear), and scattered over the plain was an
army of storks, eagerly devouring them. Coming
back a few days later, over the same line of country,
not a locust or a stork was to be seen.

The local Government usually bestirs itself if
there be any real threatening of this plague. A
few years ago a large swarm appeared near Jericho,
and all the available soldiers, with large quantities
of petroleum, were sent from Jerusalem to destroy
them, and numbers of men and boys were requisi-
tioned from every village in the district to aid in
the work of destruction, with the result that, assisted
by a flock of storks which followed the swarm, the
locusts were practically annihilated and the danger
averted.

15

CHAPTER XII

agriculture (continued)

Palestine is a country specially suited to the
cultivation of fruit. Of fruit-bearing trees the olive
is facile prinveps in value and importance. Indeed,
the olive crop is, at least at the present day, of
more real importance than either of the grain
crops, wheat and barley. It is a highly remunera-
tive one, and on it the Fellahin largely depend to
get the money for the payment of their taxes, and
other expenses for which actual cash is required,
and so a failure of the olive crop is a more serious
matter than a failure of the harvest.

The olive abounds in Palestine to-day, as it has
done, in all probability, from the very earliest days,
and forms one of the characteristic features of its
scenery ; and though to a Western eye there is a
stiffness and monotony about a grove of olive-trees,
yet their gnarled trunks and silvery-gray foliage,
contrasted with the rich brownish-red of the soil,
have a peculiar charm of their own. It has been
cultivated in remote ages ; the Israelites were
familiar with olive-oil before they had settled in the
land of Canaan (cf. Exod. xxvii. 20, xxx. 24, etc.),

226

'OLIVE BRANCHES' 227

and both the tree and oil are frequently mentioned
in the Old Testament.

It is propagated both by seed and cuttings, but
most commonly by the latter method. The olive
has the property of sending up shoots from its
roots at a short distance from the trunk, these
shoots developing in time into young trees. One
or more of them may be seen growing near most
old olives, and when the Fellahin wish for young
trees they dig up these shoots, detaching a certain
amount of root with them, and plant them out
wherever the new tree is desired. This should be
done in the autumn after the first rains have fallen ;
and where a due amount of the root has been
detached with it, and a sufficient amount of rain or
water is obtained for the first six months, the young
tree almost invariably lives and takes root, and in a
few years becomes a vigorous fruit-bearing tree.

In some cases two or more of these shoots may
be found growing round one tree ; indeed, I have
seen as many as five or six of the scions springing
from the roots of one old olive, and this is un-
doubtedly the figure in Ps. cxxviii. 3, the sons and
daughters growing up around the father being
likened to these young olive-trees springing up
round the parent stem, to be in their turn trans-
planted, and to become the centres of other groups
of trees. I have heard a statement made by a
resident in the East, that the spreading base of the
olive-tree, where it joins the ground, is called the
• table ' of the olive, and that this suggested the
figure to the Psalmist. I have never myself been

1*5—2

228 AGRICULTURE

able to find such a use of the word, or to meet
with any native who had heard of it ; still, it is
quite possible that such an expression is current in
certain localities, as many words and phrases are
confined to very limited areas, and it is never safe
to conclude, from one's knowledge of even a wide
extent of country, that words and expressions not
known there are universally unknown.

All olive-trees, whether grown from seeds or
shoots, even if taken from good trees, must be
grafted, or the produce is of no value. To graft a
young tree, a vigorous branch is selected, and near
the base, where it joins the main trunk, a longi-
tudinal incision is made through the bark, which is
carefully raised on either side of the cut, without,
however, detaching the bark from the tree. A
graft is prepared by taking a healthy twig growing
out of a similar branch on a good tree, and cutting
out this twig with a rectangular piece of the bark
attached to it, about 2 inches square, the twig
being in the centre. This is then inserted in the
incision made in the wild tree, and under the raised
bark, which is then bound tightly down on the
graft. The whole is then left for a year or so,
when, if the graft has taken proper hold, the rest
of the bough immediately beyond it is sawn ofT, in
order that all the nourishment may go into the
twig which has been grafted on.

The olive blossoms in the late spring, and the
fruit takes about six months to mature. The
flower is very small and cream-coloured, and grows
thickly for two or three inches along all the outer

* SHIROCCO ' 229

twigs, so that a tree in full blossom is a beautiful
mass of creamy colour. But a small proportion of
the flowers ' set ' or ' knot,' to translate literally the
Arabic term ; but even so the olive is very prolific,
and the weight of fruit which a well-grown tree
will produce, under favourable circumstances, is
enormous. The crop, however, runs a good many
risks ; heavy rain at the time of blossoming will
often knock off the blossom, or a spell of very hot
weather will dry it up and make it fall without
setting. Should neither of these misfortunes befall
it, an insufficient rainfall in the previous winter will
cause the fruit to be small and poor ; or should
there be much or strong SJiirocco in the autumn,
when the olives are approaching maturity, it will
shrivel them up and cause them to drop off. This
'shirocco' is a scorching east wind, the word
1 shirocco ' being a corruption of the Arabic word
shirkiyeh, the feminine form of the word for east
(the noun ' wind ' being feminine in that language).
It is also called occasionally Si mum, or ' poisonous.'
Coming across the Great Syrian Desert, it is
intensely dry, and, except in winter, hot. It
scorches vegetation, especially in exposed situa-
tions, often turning the leaves brown, as though
frost-bitten. Men and animals suffer considerably
from fatigue and exhaustion while it continues,
its injurious effects on the animal system being
attributed to the absence of ozone.

When the shirocco is very strong, the air is filled
with fine dust, and the whole atmosphere becomes
murky and most oppressive. In Egypt it is known

280 AGRICULTURE

as Khamsin, or ' fifty,' from its occurring at intervals
during a period of about fifty days in the spring.
In Palestine this shirocco blows chiefly in the
spring and autumn, April and May, and September
and October, being the months when it is most
frequent ; and it lasts generally for three, six, or
nine days at a time, but may continue longer. It
also blows occasionally in the winter, and is then
intensely cold. This wind is probably referred to
several times in the Old Testament, as, e.g., in the
LXX. version of Isa. xlix. 10 ; Ezek. xvii. 10 ;
Hos. xiii. 15 ; Jonah iv. 8.

The olive is a slow-growing tree, and continues
to bear for centuries. The fruit is gathered in the
autumn, and it is a busy time when a village has
many trees or the crop is a large one. In the case
of one large grove near Sidon, said to be the largest
in Syria, the people are not allowed to go and
gather the crop till a time appointed by the local
authorities, in order to prevent persons stealing sur-
reptitiously from their neighbour's trees. On the
day fixed, all the inhabitants of the villages which
have trees there go down and work continuously
till the olives are all gathered. The fruit is
gathered before ripening, as many prefer it for
eating while still green. For making oil, however,
the fruit must be left to ripen.

To prepare the green olives for eating, they are
usually broken slightly first, and then soaked for a
while in water to remove some of the bitterness,
after which they are pickled in salt and water, with
a little oil, and sometimes a slice or two of lemon.

OIL MILLS 231

The ripe olives are pickled whole without the pre-
liminary soaking. The best oil of all is obtained
from fruit which falls of itself from the tree, but
owing partly to poverty, partly to fear of theft,
and partly to improvidence, the olives are rarely
thus left. The gathering is done by beating the
trees with long rods (Deut. xxiv. 20 ; Isa. xxvii. 12,
R.V.). In the Gaza district they use a long stick
with a short one tied to it, like an old-fashioned
English flail, but elsewhere I have only seen the
single stick employed.

The olives having been gathered, those that are
intended to be used for oil are taken to the press,
usually without any preparation ; but in the Jebel
Ajlun (Gilead) they are stewed over the fire in a
jar, either without water or with only a very small
amount ; they are then spread on the house-top to
dry, after which they are ready to be crushed.
This operation is carried out by means of a huge
stone, in shape like a large grindstone, the principle
being that of the familiar mortar-mill used by
builders, except that in place of the revolving-pan
there is a solid circular block of stone on which
the grinding, or rather crushing, stone runs. The
details of the Badd, as it is called, differ somewhat
in different parts of the country, but the principle
is the same. The revolving stone is moved by a
horse or mule generally, but sometimes by a camel,
and even by men, by means of a beam of wood
passing through a hole in the centre of the stone,
and kept in place by being fastened to a vertical
beam which turns on a pivot in the lower stone.

232 AGRICULTURE

After being crushed, the olives are sometimes
put in jars, and left for two or three days before
being pressed, but more commonly this is done at
once. The black pasty mass is put in baskets
made of a tough grass which grows by streams, or
wrapped in hair-cloth similar to that used for the
tents of the shepherds, and a number of these
baskets or bags are placed one above another in the
press, and pressure applied. The native wooden
machine consists of a huge beam secured at one
end to a wall by a rude hinge, while a great wooden
screw passes through the other end for the purpose
of raising and lowering it. The baskets are piled
up under the lever on a stone slab, with gutters
leading into a stone trough ; pressure is applied to
the further end of the beam, and the oil flows in
streams into the receptacle made to receive it.
The method is a very primitive one, and much oil
is lost by the process. In some cases screw, and
even hydraulic, presses have been introduced from
Europe, yielding a much larger percentage of oil.
When expressed it is put in goatskins or jars, in
which it is taken into the towns for sale. It is
largely employed in soap-making as well as in
cooking. Its price varies greatly from year to
year, according to the quantity in the market ;
but taking it altogether, it is by far the most
valuable product of the country.
v j/ Vines are cultivated throughout the land, both
soil and climate being peculiarly suitable for them.
There are many varieties, which are made use of
in different ways, some being used only for eating,

VINES 233

others for wine-making ; some are employed in
making a kind of molasses, and others, again, are
made into raisins.

The vines need a great deal of attention if they
are to be really productive. The whole vineyard
must be ploughed at least once a year, or the vines
rapidly degenerate, and carefully pruned, or else
there will be little or no fruit; while during the
grape season they must be constantly watched to
prevent the grapes being stolen.

In some districts there are very large areas under
vines, as, e.g., about Hebron, Es Salt, and some
parts of the Lebanon. In the hill country they
blossom about the end of May or beginning of
June ; and riding through these districts at that
time of the year, in the early morning, especially if
there be a northerly breeze (Cant. iv. 16), the air is
filled with the delicate and refreshing perfume from
the long clusters of minute yellow-green flowers.

In a few places the vines are supported on stakes,
somewhat as one sees them grown on the con-
tinent of Europe ; but usually they are allowed to
trail on the ground, the Fellahin holding that they
are thus less injured by the hail-storms, which occur
about the end of the rainy season, and which some-
times destroy much of the blossom.

Vineyards are almost invariably enclosed by a
wall (Jedar) built of rough stone without mortar,
the materials being found on the spot, as the stone
used is generally that got out of the soil in pre-
paring it for the vines. These walls are often in
a much dilapidated condition. Frequently very

234 AGRICULTURE

loosely built, a dog or fox in its efforts to scale
them will sometimes bring a piece down with a
run (see Tobiah's taunt, Neb. iv. 3) ; and as they
are merely built on the surface of the ground, with-
out foundations, the heavy rains in winter often
wash the soil from under them, or so soften it that
it yields to their weight, and much of the wall
falls.

When the grapes begin to enlarge as the vintage
draws on, the walls are repaired, and very often a
row of small bushes of the Netsh — a low thorny
bush, a species of burnet — is laid along the top of
the walls, projecting a few inches beyond it, and
kept in place by stones, this being done in order to
prevent the dogs, foxes, and jackals, all of whom
are very fond of grapes, from getting over the walls
into the vineyards, and stealing the fruit. Some-
times a path runs between the vineyards, having on
either side one of these rough stone walls. These
paths are usually very narrow and winding, so that
it is difficult for two animals to pass each other,
especially if either of them is laden. It was in
such a path (which the Arabic version of the Old
Testament graphically renders ' ditch ') that Balaam
met the angel of the Lord (Num. xxii. 24).

Besides these walls, most vineyards have a tower
(St. Matt. xxi. 33), built, like the walls, of rough
stone without mortar. In many instances the
vineyards extend to great distances from the
villages, occasionally as much as four or five miles,
so that during the grape harvest the owner takes
his whole family out there, and lives for several

TOWER IN VINEYARDS 235

months in this tower, guarding the place and drying
the fruit.

Some of the towers, especially in the more distant
and lonely vineyards, are of considerable strength,
so as to be veritable places of safety. IS T or is this
uncalled for : thieves are common, and fatal affrays
with them are by no means unknown. In the
autumn of 1897 a notorious thief was shot dead in
a lonely vineyard belonging to the village of Ain
Arik, by a man whom he attacked in order to rob
him of his scanty crop.

Besides human thieves, the foxes, jackals, bears,
and half-wild village dogs, as already mentioned,
are fond of grapes, and make raids on the vineyards
when the fruit is ripe, while other and more formid-
able wild beasts, such as wolves, have to be guarded
against. These stronger towers are built in two
stories of a single room each. The access to the
upper one is through the lower, this latter being
entered by a low doorway from the vineyard.
Some rough steps lead up to the higher chamber,
and a slab of stone is placed over them at night,
one of the family spreading his bed on it, so that it
is impossible for anyone to enter unobserved. The
walls of this upper room are only about 4 feet high,
and in lieu of a roof a kind of arbour is formed,
supported on sticks, to give protection from the
sun and heavy autumnal dews, a vine being some-
times trained over to give additional shade.

Large quantities of grapes are made into raisins
in certain districts, those of Hebron and Es Salt
being considered the best. There are several

236 AGRICULTURE

qualities, the best being called Sandt esh Sham, or
' Daughters of Damascus.' That city being famous
for its gardens, its name has come to be applied in
Palestine and Syria to the superior sorts of fruit.

To make the raisins, the grapes, after being
gathered, are dipped into a lye made from the
ashes of the evergreen oak or terebinth, both hard
woods, the lye from the ashes of soft wood not
being considered so good. The lye is contained in
a wide shallow vessel, and the grapes, in a wicker
basket, are plunged into it for a short time ; the
basket is then withdrawn, and placed over a similar
but smaller vessel to drain. The grapes, still in
the bunch, are then spread out on a smooth, open
piece of ground in the vineyard to dry by the heat
of the sun. This takes from a fortnight to three
weeks, according to the weather, much dew or
mist prolonging the process, and darkening the
colour of the dried fruit, while an east wind
(shirocco) expedites it, and the colour is conse-
quently better. While drying, the grapes emit a
peculiar and most disagreeable odour.
^./- Another product of the grapes is Dibs, a kind of
molasses made from the juice. The following is
the way in which it is, as a rule, prepared : The
grapes, which should be very ripe, are sprinkled
with a little powdered whitish clay called Hoivtcar,
and piled up either in a sack or loose on the floor
of a wine-press. The ancient wine-presses, of which
many are still to be found, are, as far as I know,
always used for the purpose. These wine-presses
consist of a shallow rectangular depression, about

WINE-PRESSES 237

4 feet square, sloping to one corner, and carefully
cut in a suitable piece of hard rock. From here
one or more channels run into a smaller and much
deeper receptacle, close to the larger one, and,
like it, hollowed out in the living rock. One
often comes across these old wine-presses on hill-
sides where now there is no cultivation — relics of
former fertile vineyards which flourished in the
days of Palestine's glory, but which have long since
passed away. Where the grapes are put loose on
the press, flat stones are placed over them, on which
a number of men stand till all the juice is squeezed
out ; but where a sack is used the treaders stand
directly on the bags.

The expressed juice is then ladled into large
caldrons, a fire is lighted beneath, and the juice
carefully boiled down. The process is not so simple
as might be thought. The fire needs constant
attention and regulation, as should the heat be too
great the Dibs will have a burnt flavour. The syrup
has also to be skimmed at frequent intervals, as
the lighter impurities rise to the top. After about
thirty-six hours' boiling it is reduced to one-third
of its original bulk, and is sufficiently cooked. It
must now be left to cool and settle, when the
powdered clay, already mentioned, carries down all
the coarser impurities in the form of a dense pre-
cipitate, from which, when cold, the supernatant
liquid must be carefully poured off; otherwise it
will not keep good, but after a while ferments and
becomes sour. When properly prepared it is thin
syrup, of a light brown colour and of a sweet,

238 AGRICULTURE

pleasant taste, When kept for some time the
water evaporates still more, and crystallization sets
in. It is eaten by the natives as it is, or, mixed
with flour and almonds, is made into various
sweetmeats.

Palestine being a Mohammedan country, the
natives make little or no wine, though considerable
quantities are manufactured by Europeans, and
also by the Jews, the latter also distilling a very
strong spirit from it.
^C E*&§ are vei T widely grown, and, both fresh and
dried, form an important article of food. There
are many varieties, one village alone being said to
have no less than thirty in its fig-groves. Fig-trees
and vines are often grown together, as they take
different substances from the soil, whereas vines
and olive-trees do not thrive in the same plot, and
are rarely planted together. This fact illustrates
one of those minute little touches in the Gospels
which show the intimate knowledge of the land,
and the precise accuracy, of the sacred writings.
1 refer to the words (St. Luke xiii. 6), 'A certain
man had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard.'

In the late spring or early summer a peculiar
kind of fig is found on many trees. It is not a
different species or variety, as it occurs on all sorts,
but it is found from two to three months earlier
than the ordinary crop, and grows underneath the
leaf, and not in the axil as with the regular figs.
The Fellahin have a theory that it is a sign of
weakness in the tree which produces it. It is very
large and of a very fine flavour, and is much prized

THE BARREN FIG-TREE 239

by the natives, as was the case in Old Testament
times, as we see from Jer. xxiv. 2 and Hos. ix. 10,
where it is called the ' first ripe ' fig. There is in
Arabic a special name for it, ttuff'ur, whereas Tin
is the word used for the ordinary fruit.

On account of its being so highly prized, and as
it is almost the earliest of any fruit, it is allowable
for anyone to gather it from the trees as they pass.
It was these Uiiffur, I believe, that our Blessed
Lord sought for on the barren fig-tree, and not
the ordinary fruit. This will make the passage
St. Mark xi. 13 quite clear, especially if, as is not
unlikely, there were two words for the two kinds
of fruit in the colloquial Semitic dialect in use in
Palestine at that time, as in the colloquial Arabic
of to-day. This passage would thus mean that the
Saviour came hoping to find Dujf'ur, but when He
came to the tree found only leaves, for the time of
Tin was not yet. It is somewhat remarkable, too,
that while these first ripe figs are in season they are
a favourite article of food in the early morning
with the Fellahin, who have no meal corresponding
to our breakfast. When itinerating among the
villages at that time of year, I have sometimes had
occasion to ask persons who have come to me early
in the day for medicine, ' Have you eaten anything
this morning V ' Yes, I have eaten two or three
Dujfui\ has been a far from uncommon answer.

There are also in some places fig-trees of which
the fruit is public property. There seems to be
nothing to mark such trees, but they are well
known to the people of the neighbouring villages.

240 AGRICULTURE

and are called Tin csmbtl — 'fig-trees of the road.'
The barren fig-tree on Olivet was probably one of
such trees. Persons will sometimes set apart one
of their trees for such an object. Olive-trees in
like manner are occasionally dedicated to churches,
that the oil from them may be used to keep the
lamps burning before the icons.

The figs are dried in large quantities in the fig-
gardens. An open sunny spot is selected, the
ground is smoothed, stones and clods of earth
being removed, and here the figs as they ripen are
laid, being carefully turned from day to day till
they are quite dry. While this is going on they
are collected each evening, and put under shelter
at night, as the dews which often occur then would
spoil them if left out of doors. When dry enough
the fruit is stored in bulk in bins, or strung on thin
twine in strings of about a hundred. These strings
are called Kaladeh (pi. Kaltiid). The dried figs are
known by a special name, Kottain, and form a very
important article of food, especially of the very poor.

In the maritime plain, especially in the neigh-
bourhood of Jaffa, numbers of gardens of oranges
and lemons are found, and these fruits are being
exported to Europe, chiefly to England, in ever-
increasing quantities. The special Jaffa orange is
a large egg-shaped fruit of pale colour and very
thick rind. These peculiarities are caused by the
fact that the Fellahin graft the orange on to lemon
stocks, as they find by experience that this produces
a better quality of fruit than that from orange-trees
grown in the ordinary way. Both fruits require a

NIGHT MIST 241

good deal of moisture, and the trees are irrigated
from the wells already mentioned, each tree being
watered every second day.

Date-palms are not uncommon all down the
coast, and, in fact, grow more or less throughout
the country, but they only bear fruit of any value in
the extreme south, in the neighbourhood of Gaza.

Besides the fruits already mentioned, pome-
granates of several sorts, quinces, apricots, peaches,
plums, almonds, walnuts, apples, pears, and other
kinds of fruit, are found in more or less abundance.
The greater part is brought into the towns for sale,
but it is often spoilt by careless handling, and by
its being frequently gathered too soon, this last
defect being caused by fear of its being stolen if
left longer on the trees.

In the autumn the dews or night-mists are very
copious, and do much to refresh the burnt-up land.
Early in the morning the valleys, if in the hill
country, will often be found to be full of this mist,
the hill-tops standing like islands out of a sea of
fleecy white cloud. As the sun gets higher the
mists (the ' morning cloud ' of Hos. xiii. 3) melt
away, leaving a cloudless sky. Every leaf and
twig and blade of grass is gemmed with dewdrops,
while if camping out one's tent roof is as saturated
as though there had been a heavy shower of rain.
This mist or dew is often referred to in the Old
Testament (Ps. cxxxiii. 3; Hos. xiv. 5, etc.), and
is of great benefit to the fruit. It fills out the
olives and matures the grapes, although rain
would quite spoil the latter.

16

CHAPTER XIII

MINOR INDUSTRIES

In addition to the occupations more immediately-
connected with peasant life, there are several minor
industries which, in whole or in part, occupy the
time and energies of the Fellahin. Foremost
among them I would put that of the carpenter.
Most villages have their own carpenter, who makes
and mends the ploughs and other agricultural
implements, does whatever wood-work, such as
doors and windows (wherever there are the latter),
is required in the houses, and manufactures the
rough boxes in which the women keep their
clothes. His tools are of the most primitive de-
scription : a few tiny saws, with the teeth set the
reverse way to those of our saws, a small plane,
two or three chisels of various sizes, a drill worked
by a bow, and a narrow, much-curved adze, in the
use of which he is as skilful as a shipwright. He
does not use a carpenter's bench, but squats on the
ground to work, and, where he has to use both
hands, holds the thing he is working at with his
feet.

Payment is frequently made in kind, the peasant

242

LIME-BURNING 243

giving the carpenter so many measures of wheat
per annum, in return for which the other under-
takes to keep his ploughs, etc., in repair. It is
rarely a remunerative employment, and to make
a living the carpenter must either have land of his
own or must combine some other occupation with
it. I knew one who was also village schoolmaster,
and used to make and mend his ploughs, etc., in
the courtyard of the little village mosque, with
his scholars around him learning their tasks.
Those I have known have all been poor, some of
them very poor, and in the little town of Nazareth
there would probably have been but scanty work
for the carpenter, and the Saviour, in all prob-
ability, must have known at times the pinch of
real want.

Lime-burning is another minor industry which
occupies many of the Fellahin, especially during
slack periods. The lime which is used in building
is all produced in the country. As already men-
tioned, the rock formation of Palestine is almost
exclusively limestone, which is burnt into lime in
kilns called Latun or Klbdrah. A circular hole,
10 to 15 feet in diameter, is dug in some con-
venient spot, and lined with dry masonry. A
quantity of stone, preferably of the harder sorts,
and of suitable sizes, is collected, and is then built
up over the top of the circular pit in the form of
a dome, in the following manner :

Round the edge of the pit is placed a row of large
stones, partly projecting inwards. On them other
layers of stones are placed, each successive layer pro-

16—2

244 MINOR INDUSTRIES

jecting rather more than that beneath it, the process
being continued till the central opening is small
enough to be closed by two or three long pieces of
stone. Smaller stones are placed on this pile to a
considerable height, earth being heaped up all round
to keep in the hot air. A hollow some 10 feet
deep is thus left underneath the mass, and into this
hollow the fuel is fed through a sloping opening.
Another hole is often made on the side facing the
prevailing wind, in order to supply the kilns with
sufficient air. The fuel most commonly used is
the Netsh, already mentioned, a low thorny shrub
which groM r s abundantly throughout Palestine.
This is cut and piled in small heaps to dry some
time before the lime is burnt, a large stone being
placed on each little heap to keep it from being
blown away by the wind. These heaps of thorns
cut for the lime -kilns form at times quite a
feature in the landscape, and are no doubt referred
to in Isa. xxxiii. 12.

The fire, once lit, is kept going day and night,
and as these lime-kilns are often out in the open
country, at a considerable distance from the
villages, the men who work them sleep out by
them, the women bringing them food and water
two or three times a day. Each addition of fuel
causes a great volume of dense black smoke to
rise from the kiln, and on a calm day these
columns of smoke can be seen from very long
distances. To such kilns, and to these columns
of vapour, does the sacred historian liken the smoke
of the burning cities of the plain (Gen. xix. 28).

QUARRYING 245

To burn the stone thoroughly requires from two
to seven days, according to the size of the kiln,
the nature of the fuel, and the regularity with
which the fire is kept up. The method is a
very wasteful one, as the fuel used in each kiln
would be sufficient to burn a much larger amount
of lime on a continuous system. When the mass
is sufficiently burnt, the whole is left for two or
three days to cool, and the lime is then removed
in sacks.

Quarrying is largely carried on in the hill
country, in the neighbourhood of towns. The
rock found in Palestine is for the most part lime-
stone of varying hardness. In the mountains it
is extremely abundant, and it usually occurs on
or near the surface. The building stone is almost
entirely got by blasting. A hole is drilled in the
rock by means of a long iron rod about half an
inch in diameter, with a chisel-shaped end. The
quarryman sits down on the rock he wishes to
bore, and, holding the rod with both hands, brings
it rapidly down with great force over and over
again on the same spot, giving it a half-turn at
each stroke. A hole more or less vertical is thus
formed, a little larger in diameter than the rod.
When it is an inch or two in depth, a little water
is poured in, more being added from time to time.
This serves both to keep the boring tool cool
and to form a thick mud of the coarse powder
chipped off. This mud is removed from time to
time by means of a long thin rod, having at its
lower end a small spoon-like projection at right

246 MINOR INDUSTRIES

angles to its length, this mud being afterwards
used in the tamping. When the bore has reached
the required depth it is cleared out, and a few
strokes of the iron bar having dried it, coarse
gunpowder is poured in to a depth of several
inches, and rammed tight. A thin pointed rod
of iron, with a strong cross-handle, is pushed in
to the centre of the charge, and the tamping,
which is made of small pieces of stone mixed
with the mud already mentioned, is rammed
tightly in round the rod, which is turned occa-
sionally as the hole fills up, to prevent its becoming
jammed. When the tamping reaches the top of
the hole, this rod is cautiously withdrawn, and
fine-grained powder is poured down it till it is
full. When all is ready, the quarrymen retire to
a distance, leaving only the one who has to fire
the charge. This he usually does by fastening a
burning match to the end of a long stick, with
which he ignites the loose powder about the top
of the bore. As soon as he sees that this has
caught, he makes off as fast as his legs will carry
him to a place of safety. The narrow thread of
powder burns but slowly, and if properly done
there is ample time for the firer to take shelter
before the charge explodes. If near a highroad
or a place where people are about, before the shot
is fired they call out loudly : * Gunpowder ! gun-
powder ! Beware ! beware !'

The masses of stone thus detached are broken
up into pieces suitable for the builder by means
of large hammers, aided where necessary by iron

ANCIENT QUARRIES 247

wedges. The stone has to be further dressed
before it can be used by the mason, but this is
usually done in the building-yard. Sometimes
the rock is only cracked by the shot, and then
huge crowbars, of enormous weight, are used to
detach the loosened masses.

A good deal of paving stone exists in some
parts, occurring in layers only a few inches thick ;
but this is not quarried by blasting, and the softer
kinds, such as the Nareh used for the domed roofs,
do not require the use of explosives.

The method above described is a very wasteful
one. Probably not more than half the material
so obtained can be used. This is in great contrast
to the methods apparently employed in the ancient
quarries, of which numerous traces remain. There
the stones seem to have been cut out one by one,
each being ready squared for the builder as it was
detached from the bed-rock. This seems to be
referred to in Isa. li. 1. Indeed, the marks in the
old quarries are still so sharp that it seems as
though it would be possible, if one had the stones
there, to find the exact spot from which each had
been cut.

The gunpowder used in quarrying is made in
the country. Certain families are considered to
be particularly skilful in its manufacture, and have,
no doubt, secret processes of their own. All the
ingredients are found in the land. Sulphur exists
in considerable quantities in the marl formation of
the Jordan Valley, and is sold in the market under
the name of ' camel sulphur ' (to distinguish it from

248 MINOR INDUSTRIES

the 'pillar sulphur,' as it is called, which is im-
ported from Europe), the name being derived
from the fact that it is used for a remedy for the
skin diseases to which those animals seem to be
peculiarly liable. Saltpetre is frequently found as
an efflorescence on the walls of houses, and the
keenest native sportsman I have ever known, and
who always makes his own gunpowder, told me
that it was from this source that he obtained his
supply of nitre. It is, however, also made arti-
ficially by getting earth from caves and other
places where goats are housed, and placing it in
a porous vessel out of doors, but in a spot sheltered
from the rain. Water is poured on this earth from
time to time in small quantities. This percolates
through into a vessel placed below, and as it
evaporates leaves behind a mass of crude saltpetre,
which is purified by recrystallization. Some of
the women who make this nitre are specially
clever in its production, and it is remarkable that
the Fellahin, with absolutely no knowledge of
chemistry, should have discovered this process,
which is practically the same as one which was
(and probably is still) largely used in France for
the production of this salt. The materials used
for the manufacture of this native gunpowder are
probably not very pure, which accounts most likely
for the odour of the burnt powder, which is villainous
in the extreme.

Charcoal is largely used in cooking, and also
for warmth in winter, throughout the country,
and in times of bad harvests or scarcity of olive

CHARCOAL-BURNING 249

crops many Fellahin will take to its production to
eke out a living. It is made from the evergreen
oak, the branches being the parts which are mostly
employed for the purpose. Other trees are some-
times used, as the terebinth, deciduous oak, and
even soft woods such as the arbutus, in places
where the hard woods are becoming exhausted.

A bough or an entire sapling is trimmed of its
twigs on the spot, cut into convenient lengths,
and carried to the charcoal oven, which is merely
a pit in the ground or a cave ; I have even known
an ancient rock-cut tomb utilized for the purpose.
In the case of a cave, the mouth is walled up with
stones and earth, leaving only a small aperture.
The pit or cave is filled with the dry wood, and
fire is applied. Clouds of bluish-white smoke issue
from the narrow opening at the mouth, and as the
charge shrinks in volume more wood is fed in.
When the man in charge considers the whole is
sufficiently burned, the opening is closed with
stones and earth, so as to exclude all air, and
not re-opened till quite cool. The charcoal is then
carefully removed, and packed in goat's-hair bags
for conveyance to the towns and villages for sale.

In valleys where there are powerful perennial
springs or permanent streams there will usually
be found several water-mills for grinding corn.
A winding channel, carried along the side of the
valley, conducts a stream of water to a point at
which it is high enough above the floor to give
the needful pressure. Here the mill is built. It
consists of a single room, in the floor of which

250 MINOR INDUSTRIES

the lower millstone is firmly embedded. Under
the room is a vaulted space in which works the
wheel or turbine which drives the mill. One of
the walls of this room is carried up to about twice
the height of the latter, and is either connected
with the hillside by one or more arches, or is itself
built out to the end of the watercourse. A
channel along the top of this carries the water to
a vertical shaft or chimney -like opening in the
thickness of the wall at its outer end. This pipe
or shaft leads down into the turbine chamber, and
is called the ' cistern ' (Btr), probably because it is
cemented, as cisterns are in order to retain the
water ; it is closed at the bottom, but has a lateral
opening on a level with the arms of the turbine.
The column of water is sometimes 20 to 25
feet in height, so that it issues with tremendous
force in a horizontal jet, striking the radii of the
turbine, and thus rotating them.

The turbine consists of a shaft (Ud) with a
number of radial arms at the lower end, like the
spokes of a wheel without a rim, and very wide,
relatively, to their thickness. The shaft passes
up through the floor of the mill, and also through
the lower millstone, and into the upper one, which
is firmly keyed on to it by means of a cross-piece
of iron sunk into the stone. About a foot and a
half above the stones, and fifteen inches apart, are
two bars of wood securely fastened to the walls of
the mill. They are called the ' ladder,' and on them
rests the hopper (Ualu), in shape an inverted trun-
cated pyramid. Below the mouth of the hopper

MILLS 251

is suspended a flat shovel-shaped piece of wood
called the ' bowl.' It has a raised edge all round
it except at its apex, and is so hung from the
ladder that it slopes somewhat towards the narrow
end, in order to facilitate the flow of the grain to
the stones. A string passes through it near its
point, and is for the purpose of regulating the
amount of grain which passes to the millstones ;
when it is slackened more runs from the hopper,
and when it is tightened up the mouth of the
hopper is closed and the flow of corn ceases.
A short stick is tied across the 'bowl,' and on
this rests another, with its lower end on the
revolving stone, its use being to give a slight
shaking motion to the ' bowl,' without which the
grain would not flow from the hopper. Close by
the stones is the handle by which the miller opens
or closes the water-passage, thus starting or stop-
ping the mill. The stones for these mills, like
those for the hand-mills, are made of the black
basalt of the Leja.

A considerable amount of pottery is made in
various parts of the country. In some villages
the women make the huge jars which contain
the supply of water for the household. These
jars are not formed on the wheel, but are built
up slowly, piece by piece, by hand, and when
finished are dried very thoroughly, and then burnt
by heaping up dried cow-dung around them and
setting fire to it. The fuel is allowed to burn
itself out, when the jar will be found to be suffi-
ciently baked. A great deal of earthenware is

252 MINOR INDUSTRIES

also made, which is thrown on the wheel with
great skill. This industry is chiefly carried on
in Southern Palestine, about Gaza, where there
are abundant deposits of clay. The raw material
is dug out by the Fellahin, and accidents from
the falling in of the earth on them, in the pits,
are not uncommon.

When the clay is brought in, it is broken up into
small pieces, mixed with water, and worked into
a proper consistency by treading (Isa. xli. 25)
It is next ' thrown ' on the wheel, as is done
in England, only that the wheel is turned by the
potter himself; he does this by means of a disc
of wood fastened to the lower end of the shaft
on which the upper wheel is secured, and of
similar dimensions to it (hence the Hebrew term
' the two wheels,' Jer. xviii. 3). The various
articles when finished are left to dry, and then
burnt in kilns, the fuel used being the coarse
part of the straw left after the Tibn is separated,
and which consists of the knots and lowest parts
of the stalks next the ground. When burnt, the
jars and other articles are put in network sacks
made of a coarse tough grass, and sent on camels
and donkeys to all parts of Palestine.

On the coast of the Mediterranean, and also on
the Sea of Galilee, there are a good many men
who gain their living by fishing. In the former
a casting-net, the antyifi\r\GTpov of the New Testa-
ment, is chiefly used. This is a circular net of
very fine twine, and small in the mesh ; it is
attached in the centre to a long cord, and round

1 .

* -\

FISHING 2.3tt

the circumference is weighted with lumps of lead.
While riding along the coast one may often see
a fisherman with clothes tucked tightly up round
his waist, and one of these nets over his left arm,
wading thigh-deep in the broken water near the
beach, and intently watching the shoals of fish as
they swim about. Stooping and crouching down
to render himself as inconspicuous as possible, he
now advances, now retreats, till a shoal is in a
favourable position, when, with a dexterous twist
and sudden fling, he sends the net spreading out
to its widest extent over its prey. Often the cast
is in vain, or but a single fish is brought to shore,
but at other times a considerable haul rewards his
patience.

Both on the Mediterranean and on the Sea of
Galilee seine nets (trayr?^) are used with boats, as
was done in our Lord's time ; and on the latter sea
now, as then, the fishing is chiefly by night. When
being rowed on one occasion across the Sea of
Galilee, the boatmen apologized for rowing slowly :
' they had been fishing all night, and were tired,'
they said. Many of the small fish caught in the
Sea of Galilee are dried and sent about the country,
being eaten as a relish (tydpiov, St. John vi. 9) with
bread.

There are a few jewellers among the Fellahin
who either live in a village or wander about from
place to place, making the rings, bracelets, chains,
and other ornaments, of which the peasant women
are so fond. Silver is the metal chiefly used, and
that largely mixed witli alloy ; gold is rarely seen.

254 MINOR INDUSTRIES

The jeweller's apparatus is very primitive. It con-
sists of a rough pair of scales for weighing the
metal ; a plain portable hearth of clay, shaped like
a large centre-dish for fruit, and about 15 inches
high ; a rude oil-lamp, with a large wick for blow-
pipe work, a curved metal blowpipe, and one or
two forceps. With these simple tools they some-
times turn out very neat work. They seem to
work entirely by rule of thumb, following tradi-
tional patterns and devices.

Among minor industries may be mentioned the
making of mats. Chairs are unknown, except
where European ideas and customs have begun to
take root ; but even the poorest like to have some-
thing to put on the floor on which to sit, and for
this purpose straw, or rather rush, mats are common
everywhere. There are two kinds of these mats :
the larger and cheaper kind are made in the
maritime plain, of the dried stems of a species of
papyrus. This plant grows in considerable quanti-
ties in the swamps from which the short rivers
flowing into the Mediterranean take their rise. I
do not know whether or not it is identical with the
African papyrus, but it is very like it, except that
it is smaller. The rushes are tied side by side till
the mat has reached the desired length, the manu-
facture being simple in the extreme. They are
usually about 7 feet wide, by 8 or 9 feet in length.
A smaller but superior kind of mat is made in
some of the hill villages about Jerusalem from the
stems of a species of grass.

The Fellahin are very skilful in basket-making.

BASKETS 255

They use twigs of various shrubs, such as willow,
mulberry, etc., and the stems of a species of smilax
and other creepers. Of these, baskets of various
shapes and sizes are made. One sort, with a handle,
is called Kcrtidleh, and is much used for carrying
small quantities of figs, grapes, olives, etc. A
strong, shallow, handleless basket, about 18 inches
in diameter, and 4 or 5 inches in depth, is employed
by the women in carrying grain, vegetables, fowls,
etc., to market. The latter kind is often covered
with skin to render it stronger stilL Another sort,
known as Kuffeh, is made from the flexible stems
of a short grass, and is largely employed in carrying
stones for mending the roads, earth for making
mortar, in gardening operations, and for a variety of
purposes where an Englishman would use a wheel-
barrow, the loads in such cases being carried on
the head by the women, and on the hip by the men.
A strong double basket, or pannier, for donkeys is
made from the same material.

Yet another kind is made from wheat straw. A
coil of this material, about the thickness of one's
little finger, is produced by taking a number of
straws of different lengths, and binding them
tightly by a straw, flattened and rendered flexible by
squeezing it with the finger and thumb-nail, spirally
round the coil. This is wound round and round
on itself, each coil being sewn to the adjacent ones,
till a flat, circular sort of tray of the desired
dimensions is produced. The coils are then con-
tinued at right angles to the bottom till the sides
are sufficiently high. These baskets are sometimes.

256 MINOR INDUSTRIES

ornamented by dyeing the outer wrapping straws,
and working them in to form patterns.

Large round trays are made in the same way by
the women. Some are worked in elaborate patterns,
while others will have a little round looking-glass
embedded in the centre. The colours are often
tastefully blended. They are used for various
domestic purposes, often serving as dishes to hold
bread, grapes, figs, etc.

There is a widespread belief that there are
treasures buried in the earth all over the country,
and some peasants make it their regular occupation
to dig for old graves in the hope of finding these
treasures. In this way large quantities of antique
glass, ancient lamps, and other articles, are found,
and command a ready sale at the hands of the
dealers in such things in the towns. Immense
numbers of graves have thus been rifled, especially
within the last few years.

Shoemaking is another industry of the larger
villages. The shoes made by these village cobblers
are only the rougher, heavier kinds, the soles being
of camel or buffalo hide, and the uppers of sheep-
skin, dyed red. Sometimes these shoemakers go
about from village to village, chiefly repairing the
shoes of the people. They remain for a few days
in the place, as long as there is anything for them
to do, and then move on.

Some of the men are clever at hunting game.
Partridges, gazelle, wild-boar, and ibex, are the crea-
tures they shoot. The former (partridges) abound
throughout the land, there being several species, in-

HUNTERS 257

eluding the large, handsome Greek partridge, the
Dead Sea species, which is peculiar to Palestine,
and the francolin. For these birds they often use a
lure, which consists of a piece of calico with various
devices painted on it, and fastened to two sticks in
the form of a St. Andrew's cross. There are usually
two holes in the upper part for the hunter to look
through, and one in the centre for his gun. They
use this in rather an unsportsmanlike manner,
creeping up towards a covey holding this screen
before them, and when they get near they stop,
and the partridges, which are bold and inquisitive,*
when they see this strange-looking object, instead
of taking flight, gradually come nearer and nearer
till within range, when the man fires. The wild
boar is still fairly common in the Jordan Valley and
the better- wooded districts, and the Fellahin some-
times organize regular hunts for the purpose of
killing them, as not only the Christians, but also
some of the Moslems, eat the flesh.

The men spin a good deal of coarse thread from
the wool of their sheep and the hair of the goats.
A mass of the raw material is wrapped loosely
round the left hand, and the spindle with which it

* The Fellahin say that the fox is fully aware of this trait
in the character of the partridge, and takes advantage of it
in the following manner: He lies down on a rock in the
open with limbs stretched out, mouth half open, and saliva
running from it as though he were dead. When the curious
birds catch sight of their enemy in this condition, they come
slowly up to see if he be really dead, and, when near enough,
with a sudden spring he seizes his victim.

17

258 MINOR INDUSTRIES

is spun is attached to it by a piece of the thread.
The spindle is simply a stick about 9 inches long,
with two cross-pieces about 1| inches from the
lower end. It is weighted with a stone or piece of
potsherd, and is used in the following manner : A
long thread is drawn out with the fingers of both
hands, and roughly and loosely twisted. When
about 3 feet long it is held tightly between the
thumb and forefinger of the left hand, at the further
end from the spindle, and a vigorous spin is given to
the latter by a dexterous turn of the right hand, the
thread being thus twisted as tightly as desired by its
rapid revolution. The two or three feet of finished
thread are then wrapped round the lower end of
the spindle, looped over the upper end of the shank
to keep it in place, and the process repeated. It
is astonishing to see what an amount of coarse
thread a man can thus spin in a day, and of what
even thickness he manages to keep it. This thread
is used for various purposes, such as making ropes,
haircloth for tents, nose-bags for horses, and for
weaving the cloaks so much worn in winter. The
men work very industriously at this during the
wet days of winter and spring when no field labour
is possible. The women do a small amount of it,
but, naturally, have not the same time as the men.
Haircloth for the tents — or ' houses of hair,' as
they are called in Arabic — is woven in a good many
places from the coarse thread just described. This
haircloth is made of the black goat's hair, no other
colour, apparently, being permissible, the only
exception being that sometimes there is a longi-

RUINED TEMPLE NEAR TOBAZ (THE ANCIENT THEBEZ)

WEAVING HAIRCLOTH FOR TENTS.

'/ ■ '■ ee per, . B.

TENT-MAKING 259

tudinal stripe of dark gray. This work is now, I
believe, invariably done by women ; but the fact
of this having been St. Paul's trade (Acts xviii. 1-3)
shows that this was not the case in Apostolic times.
The process is simple and primitive to the last
degree. The long threads to form the warp are
stretched out in some convenient and fairly level
spot in the village. That which is to form the
woof, instead of being placed in a shuttle, is wound
lengthways on a flat piece of wood about 30 inches
long and 3 inches wide, somewhat resembling a
gigantic netting-needle. With this in her hand,
the weaver laboriously threads the woof through
the warp, and then with an iron hook (Sfa) deftly
tightens up the thread against the part already
woven. The threads of the warp are passed through
a series of loops attached to a piece of wood, and
suspended so that every other thread is alternately
raised and lowered, much as in a European loom,
though the mechanism is of the rudest possible
description, having to be turned by hand each time
the shuttle is passed through the warp. It goes
without saying that the process is very tedious, but,
owing to the dexterity which the women acquire
not so much so as might be supposed. A strong,
rough kind of carpet is woven in the same manner
in some districts, as well as sacks, bags, and such-
like articles.

At one time a great deal of weaving was done
by the Fellahin, and though goods of European
manufacture have to some extent crippled this
industry, yet there are still many looms to be

17—2

260 MINOR INDUSTRIES

found in various parts. Simple though they are,
the work they turn out is neat and durable. The
working parts of the loom are on a level with
the floor, and a hole is dug to accommodate the
treadles which raise and lower the alternate threads
of the warp, the weaver sitting on the edge of this
hole and working the treadles with his feet. The
thread of the woof is wound on little bobbins,
made of pieces of hollow reed, inserted in the
shuttle, which is skilfully and quickly shot through
by hand. The thread is wound on the bobbins by
a little piece of apparatus consisting of a rude
wheel with a cord passing over it to a reel on a
spindle, on which the little pieces of reed are fixed.

One of the principal articles produced by these
native looms is the heavy cloak worn by the
peasants in winter. The warp of these cloaks is
white cotton, which is imported from Egypt in the
form of yarn, but the woof is of wool. In weaving,
the workman, after shooting the shuttle through
the threads, catches the woof-thread with his thumb
about the middle, and draws it up in a semicircle
before pressing it home. This seems to give greater
density and closeness to the material. These
Abas, or cloaks, are woven in broad stripes of
black and white, are very strong and durable, and
fairly waterproof.

Mention may be made, too, of the mother-of-
pearl work for which Bethlehem is famous, though
this cannot be called an indigenous industry, having
been introduced from Egypt two or three centuries
ago. The shells are brought from the Red Sea.

A WATER-MILL, JE13EL A.TLUN.

To/act page 260.

WOOD-CARVING 2fil

The work is all done by hand, and some of the
specimens are very beautiful. There is a growing
demand for olive-wood articles, and in a few cases
some of the Fellahin have begun making various
objects in the villages, the raw material being
cheaper there than in towns. They sell them in
the shops in Jerusalem and elsewhere.

CHAPTER XIV

MISCELLANEOUS

The roads in Palestine are for the most part rough

tracks, or else mere paths across the country. In

the hills they are very stony, and in the plains

frequently impassable in the winter owing to the

deep mud. During the Roman occupation of the

country fine paved roads were made in all directions,

of which extensive remains still exist both east and

west of the Jordan, with milestones, the inscriptions

on them being often still decipherable, recording

how, under such a Caesar or in such-and-such a

consulship, the road was made or repaired. These

Roman highways, however, from having been

neglected for centuries, are now useless for wheeled

traffic. The large blocks of stone which once

formed a smooth, level surface for scores of miles

are now tilted at every possible angle, the earth

between has been washed away, and in places

rough masses of rock protrude from below, or

the surface is strewn with large loose pebbles,

so that the line of the track resembles the bed of

a mountain torrent more nearly than anything

else.

262

REPAIRING ROADS 263

When, however, a Christian Patriarch or Govern-
ment official of high rank is about to visit a district,
or even merely to pass through it, it is customary
to send word in advance to the various villages
on the route, that the road may be put in order.
The stones are cleared out ; the vineyard walls,
which are built of rough blocks without mortar,
and are consequently frequently broken down by
men or animals getting over them, are repaired ;
ruts are filled up, and the highway made as smooth
as circumstances will permit. I have on several
occasions been agreeably surprised, when travelling
about the country, on coming to some particularly
bad piece of road, to find the stones gone, the walls
repaired, and the path in good order.

As one travels about the country one hears a
great variety of salutations. Indeed, these saluta-
tions are so numerous and varied that they form
quite a study, there being different ones in different
parts of the country, and special ones on special
occasions or for the various events of life. When
two Moslems meet each other, they usually greet
each other with the words ' Salam alckum ' (Peace
be upon you) ; to which the proper reply is, ' Wa
alekum es salam ' (And on you be peace), the
pronoun being usually in the plural instead of the
singular, even where only one person is addressed,
this being considered more polite than the use of
the singular, the same custom obtaining in writing
letters. This salutation is not used by Christians
to one another, nor is it usual for Christians to use
it to Moslems, nor Moslems to Christians — indeed.

264 MISCELLANEOUS

the more fanatical Moslems would highly resent its
use by or to Christians. In some districts, how-
ever, where there is little bigotry on the part of the
Mohammedans, or where they and the Christian
villagers are on specially friendly terms, I have
frequently heard it exchanged between Moslems
and Nazarenes, as they call us. This used to be
the custom about Kerak, in Moab ; but when a
few years ago the Turks took possession of the
place, which till then had been only nominally
under their rule, the officials tried to stop it, and a
public order was issued forbidding the practice,
on the ground that 'there was no peace between
Moslems and Christians.'

When Christians meet, a common salutation is,
'Allah m'akum' (God be with you), to which those
thus addressed reply, ' If r Allah yahfathak' (And
may God preserve thee). In the morning, whether
in the house or on the road, the usual greeting is,
' Subahkum bilkher ' (May your morning be good, or
prosperous), the response to which is the same.
In many cases they reply to a salutation by one
similar, but better, rather ; thus, a very common
one during the day is, ■ Naharak sa'id ' (May thy day
be fortunate), the answer to which is, ' Naharak
mbdrak 3 (May thy day be blessed), the latter being
stronger than the former. These two salutations
can be used at any time during the day, but in
the afternoon, especially after about three o'clock,
it is more usual to say, ' Masikum bilkher ' (May your
evening be prosperous) ; but in the Lebanon there
is a curious custom of saying, ■ Lelatak saHd '

SALUTATIONS 265

(May thy night be fortunate) any time from noon
onwards.

When meeting a stranger on the way, or when
one arrives at a village or house, a common saluta-
tion is,' Marhabali (A welcome), to which the person
so addressed replies, ' Marhabaten ' (Two welcomes).
Should the one who gives the first welcome be
a person much respected, or well known to the
other, the reply will often be, ' Mit marhabah ' (A
hundred welcomes). A very characteristic greet-
ing to a guest is, 'Ahlan wa sahlan ; rendered quite
literally, this means, 'People and a plain' — i.e., 'You
are among your own people, and all will be made
easy for you,' being a wish that you may feel
quite at home. This last word occurs in another
greeting : two friends meet on a journey, and on
parting one will say to the other, especially if the
latter have a long day's march or a difficult road
before him, 'Allah yusahhil oleic' (May God make
it smooth, or level, for you), a peculiarly appro-
priate farewell in a land like Palestine, where so
much of it is rough and hilly. The phrase is also
used metaphorically of any difficult undertaking.

While on the subject of travelling, a curious
phrase must be mentioned which people meeting
on the way use when they wish to ascertain where
one is going, viz., ' Wen ala bob Allah V or more
simply, 'Ala bab Allah V (Where — to the gate of
God ?). The idea of the phrase is said to be that
the person addressed is thereby implied to be
bound on some good errand, and therefore not
ashamed to say whither he is bound, and very

9.66 MISCELLANEOUS

rarely will a man refuse to give an answer to the
question thus asked. I think that there is also
a wish implied, as in so many of their salutations,
that a blessing may rest on the enterprise, what-
ever it may be. Similar phrases are also used
sometimes with the same meaning. I was once
riding alone in a very out-of-the-way part of the
country, when I met an old peasant woman. She
was evidently greatly surprised to see a foreigner
alone in that out-of-the-way place, and, after gazing
intently at me for a moment or two, greeted me
with the words ' Wither with God ?'

A traveller passing Fellahin ploughing, or en-
gaged in any other hard labour, greets them with
the wish, ' Sah badanu ' (May He [God] strengthen
his body) — that is, that he may be able to do his
work properly. The one so addressed replies,
' Badanu ' (His body), simply reciprocating his wish,
or, on the principle mentioned above, of adding
to the wish, Badnnu sellnnu (His body, and may
[God] give him peace, or health). In the Belka
and other parts east of the Jordan, a common
greeting by the way is the phrase ' Kowwak ' (pro-
nounced ' gowwak,' the kaf, as is usual among the
Bedouin and the Fellahin of Eastern Palestine,
being sounded as a hard g), viz., ' May God
strengthen you,' the reply to which is, ' Kowivct ' —
that is, ' I am strengthened.' A similar salutation
not uncommonly heard is, ■ El axv'afah ' (Health).
Among the Fellahin a host who is looking after
his guests, and going in and out among the people,
will, every time he comes into the room, repeat

GREETING WITH A KISS 267

the ordinary salutation ' Good-day ' or ' Good-even-
ing,' according to the time. When guests arrive
at a person's house or the guest-room of a village,
the people of the place crowd in, usually, to see
and salute them. When a man enters, he slips
off his shoes at the door, and walking across the
room to the principal guest (if there be more than
one), and taking the latter's right hand between his
two hands, says, ' Selimat ' (Health, or Peace), and
then does the same to the other guests in order
of their rank. Should the guest be a man of
high position, as a Bishop, Patriarch, or a Sharif
among the Moslems (i.e., a lineal descendant of
Mohammed), the other will raise the guest's hand to
his lips and kiss or attempt to kiss it, the other often
drawing it back, as though unwilling to receive
the homage. When the man has thus saluted
the guests, he seats himself among the people
present, and when he is fairly settled in his place
the guests turn towards him and wish him ' Good-
evening,' or whatever be the suitable salutation,
the rest of the company following suit, all this
being repeated with each new arrival.

An ordinary question is, ' How are you ?' —
literally, ' How is your state V Among Moslems
it is not proper to inquire after a man's wife.
Should he be a person whom one knows well,
one may say, ■ How is your family ?' or, ' How
are the people of your house ?' A frequent
reply to all inquiries like these — or, if a person
has been ill, to a question as to how his health
is — is, 'Praise God,' or, '1 thank the Lord.'

268 MISCELLANEOUS

Indeed, it is often very difficult in such circum-
stances to ascertain the real state of a person's
health, it being considered unlucky for anyone to say
that he is worse, even if such be the case. Another
reply to the formal inquiry, ' How are you ?' is,
1 Talit nathurakj an answer which contains one
of those delicate bits of flattery at which Orientals
are adepts, meaning as it does, ' I am under your
oversight' (or • care '), implying, ' How can I be
otherwise than well when you are looking after
me ?' When one thanks a person for any favour
or kindness done, he often says, * Istaghfur Allah'
(I beg pardon of God), as though by being
thanked he had sinned by receiving or accepting
what was due to God.

At the New Year or on occasions of great
festivals a special greeting is used, viz., ' Kul es
senneh wet entum salhnin ' (May you be well, or
in peace, all the year), the reply to which is, ' Wa
entum salimin (May you, too, be in peace). Another
greeting at festivals is, ' El 'id mubarak fik ' (May
the feast be blessed to you), the answer being
simply, ' Fik ' (And to you). At Easter, moreover,
the well-known salutations, ' El Masih kam' (Christ
is risen), ' Hakkan kam ' (He is risen indeed), are
still used by the members of the Orthodox Greek
Church.

When a person is leaving after a call or visit, he
says to the host, ' Khatarak' — literally, 'What is thy
wish ?' — to which the other answers, ( M'a salameh*
— literally, ' With peace,' meaning, ' My wish is that
you may return home in peace or safety.' This

'GO IN PEACE' 269

expression, ' Go in peace,' is also a polite way of
getting rid of a beggar or other objectionable
person, and perhaps the passage 2 Kings v. 19
ought to be so interpreted, and not, as is generally
done, be held to mean that the prophet assented
to Naaman's wish. As a guest rides away from
the door of a house where he has been calling or
staying, the host will usually ask him to salute
So-and-so in the place he is going to, or, if he
does not know anyone there, he will say ' Sellim *
(Salute).

In a hot, dry country like Palestine, large
quantities of water are drunk, and when people
are gathered together in an evening the water-
bottle is going round frequently. After drinking,
a man must say in a low voice, ' Praise be to God,'
on which those near him say, ' Your health,' to which
he replies, ' May God give thee health.' It is con-
sidered a very bad omen if no one says this when
anyone has drunk. A story is told of a wealthy
Moslem who, when he went on a pilgrimage to
Mecca, hired a man on purpose to stand near him
at meals, etc., and say ' Your health ' after he had
drunk. For several days the man never said a
word, and at last his employer asked him why he
had never said ' Your health,' and the other replied,
1 Because you never said, " Praise be to God.'"

When coffee is served to guests or others, the
person who presents the cup does so with his
right hand, putting his left on his chest, and say-
ing, ' Tafaddul? — that is, ' Do me the honour ' of
taking the coffee — and as he takes it the other

270 MISCELLANEOUS

generally says, ' Isht ' (May you live long), while as
he returns the cup after having drunk, he says,
i Daimeh,' which is, literally, 'Always,' being a devout
wish that the host may always have coffee to give
to his guests, on which the host, or else the person,
often a member of the family, who is serving the
coffee, says, ' Sahatcn ' (Two healths). If, however,
a death has recently occurred in the house, it is
not proper to use the expression ' Always ' after
the coffee, as it might be taken as an evil wish
that there might always be a death in the family.

After a death in a house, when entering it, or
on meeting a person who has recently lost a near
relation or friend, instead of the ordinary saluta-
tion, one says, ' Salamat rasak 1 (The health, or peace,
of thy head), the other responding with • Salamat
ouladak' (The health of thy children). When a
person who has been away for a considerable time
from a village is inquiring about the people there,
and happens to ask after anyone who is dead,
instead of saying directly ' So-and-so is dead,' they
say, l Atdk umrahu'' (He has given you his life [or
age]), this being equivalent to a wish that God
may add to the life of the other the years which
the dead man would have lived had he fulfilled
the complete term of his existence. I have even
heard it used hypothetically of a sick person who
was known to be dying. Thus, once riding home
to Jerusalem, I overtook a young fellow I knew,
and stopped to inquire after an old man in his
village who was dangerously ill. ' Probably he
has given you his life ' was the reply, meaning,

ETIQUETTE 271

of course, that by then he had probably passed
away.

With the word ' Blessed,' we greet a friend who
has moved into a new house, or to whom a child
has been born, or other piece of good fortune
come ; he replies, ' May you be blessed.'

If a person is wearing a new garment, or has
any new thing with him, and another congratulates
him about it, he will sometimes reply with the
words, ' Alalhabl idak' (Your hand is on the rope),
as much as to say, ' It is at your disposal,' and
should the other reply, ' Hdtt ' (Give), he would be
obliged to give it him. The precise meaning of
this curious phrase is very variously explained,
some explanations of it being very far-fetched.
The idea is, I believe, really a simple one, and
taken from that of an animal tethered by a rope,
one end of which is in the owner's hand, who thus
can make it go wherever he wishes.

There is a great deal of etiquette about salu-
tations, though often it is not observed. Thus,
a man riding should always first salute a man
walking ; a man riding a horse must first salute
one riding a donkey. Moreover, should a man
riding by on a horse salute another sitting by
the roadside, the latter must not rise, as he
otherwise would, to return the salute, lest his
doing so suddenly should frighten the horse,
making it rear and throw its rider. Again,
should a man enter a room where guests are at
a meal, he must not salute them at once, but
wait till they have done eating, as Arab rules

272 MISCELLANEOUS

of politeness require a greeting to be instantly-
returned, and one of them might have his mouth
full at the moment, and be choked in the attempt
to reply to the other's greeting.

Kissing the hand by way of salutation has
already been mentioned. In many cases this is
actually done, not only by an inferior to a
superior, but children to their parents, even when
the former are grown up. A man who has been
absent from home for some time will, on entering
the house, greet his father thus, and it is a beautiful
sight to see a strong middle-aged man gracefully
stoop and raise his old white-haired father's hand
to his lips. A wife will also greet her husband
in this way if he has been away several days.
Indeed, in Palestine it would be considered highly
improper for a man to kiss his wife before others,
or a brother a sister, as is done in Europe. Among
the Christians a priest will kiss his Bishop's hand,
and the laity will kiss the right hand of a priest.
Often when inquiring after a child the father or
mother will say, ' He kisses your hand.'

I have no doubt in my own mind but that it
was thus that the traitor Judas greeted the Saviour
in the Garden of Gethsemane (St. Matt. xxvi.
48, 49). It would be a perfectly natural salutation
to his Master on the part of a disciple who had
been some hours absent, and would therefore not
excite the suspicion of the other apostles, while
at the same time it would clearly indicate to the
soldiers the Prophet of Nazareth. On the other
hand, a kiss on the cheek, as Western pictures of

KISSING 273

our Blessed Lord's betrayal always represent it,
though used in Palestine, would only be given
by very dear friends or near relatives after a
prolonged absence.

To kiss the feet is a rare, though not unknown,
greeting, and indicates the lowest depths of humilia-
tion, the most earnest entreaty, or the deepest
gratitude. Occasionally persons will actually
throw themselves on the ground at the feet of
him whom they thus entreat, but more often they
will kiss their own fingers and then try to touch
the feet of the other. This latter mode of saluta-
tion is a common one, and is alluded to as an act
of worship in Job xxxi. 27.

To kiss the beard (either actually, or by touch-
ing it with the right hand, as mentioned just above)
is also a token of great respect or of humble
supplication. Several times have persons who
wanted some special favour from me tried to thus
show their respect. This, too, seems to me the
explanation of the action of Joab mentioned in
2 Sam. xx. 9 — viz., that he touched or took hold
of Amasa's beard to kiss it, hypocritically pretend-
ing to pay great honour to him whom David had
just appointed captain of the host, and while stoop-
ing to salute him thus both disarmed his rival's
suspicions and saw where to strike the fatal blow.

Beards are universally worn by the men, and

one who cannot grow a beard is looked upon as

something uncanny, and the Moslems especially

think it most unlucky to meet such a man on

setting out on a journey. There is a proverb

18

274 MISCELLANEOUS

about this which runs : ' Meet goblins in the
morning rather than a beardless man.' The beard
is much respected by them. ' How is your beard V
is a salutation I once heard. ' May God reward
your beard !' was a blessing once invoked on me
by a would-be recipient of alms. A man with
a sharp-pointed beard — indicative, I believe, of a
pure Arabic descent — is supposed by the Fellahin
to have special intellectual power. Such a man
is called a Kusah. In illustration of this they
tell the following story: 'The great enemy of
mankind, wishing to find a pretext to injure the
people of a certain village, sent his son to ask
them to weave a carpet of flint. He told the
messenger that on no account was he to ask the
question if a KHsah were present. When he
arrived at the village, he found all the elders
assembled in the guest-house, and, looking round,
could see no one at all answering to the descrip-
tion of the man he was to avoid. Accordingly
he proffered his request. It so happened, however,
that there was such a man there, lying down
behind a row of people, and covered with a cloak.
When the evil spirit had done speaking this man
rose up and said : " Tell him who sent you that if
he will spin the flint into thread we will weave it
into a carpet for him." Whereupon the fiend
retired discomfited.' This story is widely known,
and, though foolish enough to Western ears, is
often alluded to, and men of this description are
liable to much fun being made of them, but they
are generally equal to the occasion.

A KUSAH 275

Recently one of them went to a large village
in the Nablus district, and as usual was taken to
the guest-house. One of the elders of the place,
who had a very fine beard, welcomed him, and
then said laughingly : ' Sir Kusah, can you spin
flint?' The latter made no reply, but after a
while, when a number of people were assembled,
and there was a lull in the conversation, he said :
' I want to buy hair ; is there any to be had in
your village V * Oh yes, plenty,' said his hosts.
t How much per rottle (6| pounds) ?' 'So much,'
was the reply. Then, pointing to the fine beard of
the joker, he asked : ' How many beards like this
will it take to make a rottle ?' There was a roar
of laughter at the other's expense, and he was so
teased about it that he was glad to purchase silence
by a good present to the Kusah.

Neighbours play a very important part in the
daily life of the Fellahin, both for good and evil.
This is more or less inevitable in all countries,
but particularly so in Eastern lands, where the
houses are crowded together much more closely
than is the case in our English villages. There
are in Palestine no outlying farmhouses, and no
labourers' cottages scattered here and there. Till
quite recent years no one would have dared to
build a house by itself away in the open country,
and even to-day, although there is much greater
security than formerly, it would not always be
safe to do so. The houses are all found in the
villages, and usually are crowded together as
closely as possible, chiefly, no doubt, for mutual

18—2

276 MISCELLANEOUS

protection. The smaller the circumference of the
village ceteris paribus, the easier it was to defend
it in case of attack. Consequently the houses join
each other, or several will be built round a common
courtyard, all opening into it. This naturally
throws the inhabitants of adjacent houses or rooms
very much together ; consequently the mere fact of
a man being a neighbour is held to constitute a
claim on his good offices. Hence the proverb, g A
neighbour who is near by rather than a brother who
is far off.' Even where the neighbour is not all he
ought to be, it is recognised that one has a duty to
him, as says the proverb, • Neighbour, you must
bear with your neighbour, even if he throw stones
at you.' On the other hand, the evils of bad neigh-
bours are fully recognised. Thus one of their
proverbs says : ■ A house without a neighbour is
worth a hundred dinars '; and again : ' Inquire
about the neighbour before you ask about the
house.' A sound piece of advice is contained in
the following : ' If your neighbour hate you, change
the door of your house ' ; while ' A bad neighbour
is infectious ' is profoundly true. Another, ' Search
your house several times before you suspect your
neighbour,' if carried out everywhere, would prevent
much trouble and quarrelling in other countries
besides Palestine.

The Fellahin are exceedingly hospitable, and are
always ready to give food to any guest or stranger
who asks it. This hospitality is looked on as a
religious duty, and is most ungrudgingly dispensed.

Along the great caravan routes and other main

THE GUEST-HOUSE 277

lines of travel khans or inns will be found. In
olden times Kings and great men sometimes built
such places where needed ; the beautiful ruined
Khan et Tujjar on the road between Tiberias
and Tabor will be an instance familiar to most
travellers in Palestine. Such places seem to have
existed in Old Testament times also, as the Khan
of Chinham mentioned in Jer. xli. 17. Off the
lines of travel no such places are to be found in
the country districts where the passing stranger can
get food and shelter.

Each village, however, has its guest-house, and if
large, or its principal men wealthy, there may be
several. These guest-rooms play an important
part in the village life. Here any strangers who
may wish for a night's lodging are received, if they
have no friends or relations in the place. Here,
too, come the Government officials when collecting
taxes, or on any other business. In the guest-house
the villagers gather when a stranger arrives in order
to hear the news, for newspapers are but rarely seen
in the country places, and but few comparatively
can read, so they still depend largely on passing
strangers or a chance visitor from a town for their
knowledge of what is happening in the outside
world. The guest-house is sometimes a room in
the sheikh's house, but more commonly it is a
building by itself in a central position, and occa-
sionally, chiefly in the smaller hamlets, the same
room is guest-house and mosque. It is a large
room absolutely devoid of furniture ; there is often
a sort of hearth in the centre where a fire is lit

278 MISCELLANEOUS

when needed for making coffee for guests, or in
cold weather for warmth. The roof is generally
black with the smoke of years, as there is rarely
any sort of chimney, and the smoke fills the apart-
ment, escaping only through the door and window.

It is a picturesque sight which these guest-rooms
present at night, with a crowd of swarthy men
seated on the ground in various easy attitudes
around the central hearth, on which burns a fire of
twigs, the bright blaze lighting up their weather-
beaten faces and bringing into sharp relief the
white beards of the older men. The long pipes are
filled and lit, and their smoke mingles with that of
the fire. There is the hum of conversation all
round, or else breathless silence while someone tells
a thrilling tale of adventure, robbery, or war ; or an
animated discussion takes place over some matter
of keen local interest. Many an evening have I
spent in the village guest-houses, and many an
attentive audience have I had as I told the story
of redemption in Jesus Christ to the Moslem
villagers.

If a guest arrives during the day for an hour or
two's rest, a mat will be spread for him, and
mattresses and cushions fetched from the sheikh's
house, and he will be urged to take his rest ; food
will generally be quickly brought — two or three
loaves of bread and some olives, or grapes or figs,
according to the time of year, or, if a person of
importance, a fowl will be killed and quickly
cooked for him. If, however, he stay the night, a
more substantial meal will be provided. After the

SUPPER 279

evening prayers in the mosque, a large copper tray
or wooden bowl, heaped high with boiled rice or
cracked wheat, or sometimes with wheat below, for
the ordinary guests, and rice above for the more
distinguished ones, is brought in. On the rice are
joints of meat, mutton, or goat's flesh (the ordinary
peasants never eat beef), and the master of the
ceremonies carries an armful of round flat loaves of
bread which he distributes at intervals round the
dish. The guests then take their places, having
first washed their hands. With a ' In the name of
God,' each plunges his right hand into the pile of
rice, and dexterously rolling up a ball of it, conveys
it to his mouth. The meat, which is always boiled,
is very thoroughly cooked, so that it is easy to
detach pieces with the right hand, it being con-
sidered very bad manners, especially by the
Moslems, to use the left hand. The sheikh
waits personally on the guests, often holding the
light that they may better see, urging them to eat,
or tearing off some dainty piece and putting it
before some guest whom he wishes specially to
honour.

The Fellahin do not usually drink till towards
the close of a meal, and then they do so as a rule
from the Slierbeh, or water cooler, which is a small
pitcher with a spout at one side, from which they
pour the water into their mouths without touching
the vessel with their lips, as they all have the
knack of swallowing the water with their mouths
wide open.

After supper coffee is invariably served. This

280 MISCEIJLANEOUS

beverage is so widely used that it may almost be
said to be a necessary of the Arab's life. On the
arrival of guests it is always offered to them, being
made then and there. If no fire be actually
burning at the time, a few sticks are taken and
kindled, and the requisite number of coffee-beans
are placed in a large shallow iron spoon and care-
fully roasted over the flame, being stirred with an
iron rod all the time to prevent them burning.
When sufficiently roasted they are poured into a
mortar made of stone or wood, and pounded with
a wooden pestal, the coffee-maker beating a sort of
tattoo on the sides and bottom of the mortar with
the pestle as he does so. This sound produced by
anyone who is clever at it is much admired by the
Arabs, and is not unpleasing to a European ear.
When pounded, the fragrant powder is put in a
deep brass or iron pot, with the due amount of
water, and placed on the embers to boil. To get
the full flavour out of it, it ought to be brought to
the boil four or five times, being allowed to subside
as often by removing the vessel for a few seconds
from the fire. When ready, the coffee-maker takes
one or more china cups, which he usually washes
out first, and, pouring a little coffee into one cup,
next empties it into the other cups in succession,
and then drinks it himself. This is to show that
there is no poison in any of the cups, a common
method of getting rid of an enemy being by means
of a cup of poisoned coffee. The preliminaries
being concluded, the coffee is served out.

The cups, which are of various shapes, contain

COFFEE-MAKIXG.

PEASANTS OF THE .IE1SEL AJLUN.

7 i ice pc ;» ..■■:!.

COFFEE-MAKING 281

usually but little more than a good-sized egg-cup,
and are filled about two-thirds full. It is proper to
sip it slowly, and somewhat noisily, to show one's
appreciation of it ! Guests or strangers, in order
of rank or precedence, are always served first,
unless there be someone of much higher position
than anyone else present. It is drunk both
sweetened and unsweetened, the latter being
always served after a meal, and milk is never
added ; at other times a guest will often be asked
whether he prefers it ' sweet ' or ' bitter.' When
the cup is returned to the server, the latter receives
it in his left hand, and immediately covers it with
his right, lest the guest's feelings should be offended
by the sight of the grounds ! The Fellahin are
great connoisseurs of coffee, though not quite so
much so, perhaps, as the Bedouin, and it is used on
all manner of occasions. Hardly ever is a bargain
set about without this preliminary ; every guest as
he arrives must be welcomed with it, and it is
wonderful how it smooths over obstacles and
prepares the way for an amicable settlement of
difficult and contentious matters. In my itinerant
missionary work I have, times without number,
proved it invaluable in collecting an attentive
audience to listen to my message.

Children are not usually given coffee in the
guest-houses, or on public occasions, and when a
youth begins to have it habitually he is considered
to have come to man's estate. A few of the more
ascetic Moslems do not drink coffee, classing it
with alcoholic beverages forbidden by their prophet.

282 MISCELLANEOUS

Technically speaking, no doubt they are right, the
Arabic word for coffee being an archaic term for
wine. But there can be little doubt but that it
was transferred to coffee, and that the latter is not
included in the prohibition referred to in the Koran.

The food and coffee for guests, and fodder for
their horses, is usually supplied at the cost of the
villagers in general, but different plans are adopted
in different places for assessing the people. In one
village I know, the families in rotation supply any
guests there may be with supper. In this case
each family gives some different article to the
sheikh of the place, and he arranges these in order ;
and when the family whose object is next in the
row has provided supper in its turn, its token is
removed and placed last, and so on till the whole is
finished, and the turns begin again.

In another place I know well the food for the
soldiers who come to collect the taxes, and the corn
for their horses, is assessed on the people according
to the amount of land each owns. The name of
each proprietor of land is written on one or more
pieces of paper, according to the smaller or larger
number of Feddadin, or acres, he has, these pieces
of paper being strung on a thread which is then
fastened to a stick in shape of a bow, all the papers
being pushed to one end. Each time a man (the
next in order) provides food or fodder for the
soldiers the piece of paper bearing his name is
pushed to the other end of the string. At yet
other places the villagers pay a fixed amount per
annum towards the cost of entertaining guests.

CHAPTER XV

miscellaneous (continued)

Justice was formerly almost exclusively adminis-
tered by the village sheikhs, and though, since the
introduction by the late Midhat Pasha of European
modes of civil government, the Ottoman Power has
taken these matters more into its own immediate
control, yet many cases are settled locally without
ever coming into the Turkish courts. This holds
good not only in minor matters, but even in such
serious ones as murder. Custom and unwritten
law have much to do with these things, and though
now the Turkish authorities intervene in many
cases, yet there are very many of which they never
hear, or of which they take no cognizance. In the
cases where they do intervene I have never once
known the death penalty to be inflicted, even where
there was no manner of doubt as to the man's guilt.
The utmost that has been done in such cases is to
sentence the criminal to fifteen years' imprison-
ment, which is usually carried out in the ' Blood
Prison ' of Jerusalem or in that of Acca — a punish-
ment which, as the natives themselves say, is
wholly inadequate as a deterrent. Where, how-

283

284 MISCELLANEOUS

ever, the people take the matter into their own
hands, blood can, as a rule, only be atoned for by
blood. Thus, if a man were murdered, his relations
might kill any member of the family of the man
who had committed the crime, however distantly
connected he might be, and nothing would be said ;
or, instead of putting the murderer to death, they
might plunder him of everything. Failing any
relation of the criminal, any friend, or even anyone
from the same clan or village, may be put to death.
This custom is still in force. Some years ago I
was travelling east of the Jordan in a district with
which I was unfamilar, and accordingly took a
guide with me, who was to go as far as a certain
town in Western Palestine, the latter part of the
journey being quite new to him. The last day,
after we had crossed the Jordan, I happened to
mention incidentally that we should pass a certain
village, at which he expressed great alarm, telling
me that a man from there had lately been murdered
at his village, and the murder having been not yet
arranged about, he felt sure he would be killed
were he recognised by the people of the place we
were approaching as being from the district where
the murder occurred. Happily he was not detected,
but he was in great trepidation till we had got
safely past.

Sometimes a murder is settled by a money pay-
ment arranged between the relations of the murderer
and murdered person. Recently a man from a
village near Jerusalem murdered another from a
place in the maritime plain. The affair was finally

IN THE HILL COUNTRY.

*

S ^'V : y'

* -Jk

" RUJ.M.

Tofaeepage 285.

MURDERS 285

settled by the people of the former place paying a
sum of £200 to the people of the latter, and giving
a girl also, worth at least £50, as a bride to a man
there, the people from the village in the plain being
allowed to come and choose any girl there.

In cases where a man is murdered, and the
murderer is also killed on the spot, no information
is given to the Government, and no more notice is
taken of it, as the affair is considered to be closed
by the death of the latter.

If a man is found murdered by the wayside, a
small cairn of stones is piled upon the spot, and
each person from the dead man's village, as he
passes, throws a stone upon it until the murder is
arranged, or until, from lapse of time, the affair
ceases to be remembered. Such cairns are often
seen near the road, and are known as Rujm Ful&n
(So-and-so's heap), or simply as Meshad — i.e., a
witness.

There are villages in different parts of the country
whose inhabitants are notorious as thieves ; indeed,
there are people whose business is to go about the
country stealing animals. I once came across a
couple of these fellows who were professional
donkey-stealers. They would cut out a straggling
ass from a caravan, or an animal which had been
sent out to graze with others, and which had
wandered too far from a not overwatchful herds-
man. These men would not stop at murder should
the owner arrive on the scene and attempt to
recover his property, provided the risks were not
too great. There is a not inconsiderable amount

286 MISCELLANEOUS

of cattle-stealing in the same way, the animals
being driven to a convenient town and sold to the
butchers ; and if common report is to be credited,
a good deal of the beef sold in Jerusalem is obtained
in this manner.

A certain amount of smuggling is carried on in
salt. Salt is a monopoly of the Turkish Govern-
ment, which manufactures immense quantities from
sea-water. This is sold throughout the country,
each family in the villages having to buy from the
authorities a certain amount per annum. As is
well known, enormous deposits of salt exist in the
neighbourhood of the Dead Sea, and this is
smuggled to a small extent by the Bedouin, who
bring it by night to the villages and sell it at a
much lower rate than the Government article.

There is a bad custom, happily but rarely found,
of injuring people, or of revenging an injury, real
or imaginary, which consists in cutting down a
person's olive or other fruit-bearing trees, or injuring
them so that they gradually die. It is, however,
looked upon by the people themselves as particularly
barbarous, and is but seldom resorted to ; but I
have known a few cases of it, one of them being of
a particularly atrocious character. A man died,
leaving to his only son, a child, certain property,
part of which consisted of fruit-trees — olives, figs,
etc. — the land on which they grew, in accordance
with the peculiar tenure already explained, not
being his. One morning it was found that during
the night all the trees had been cut down, doubtless
by, or at the instigation of, the owner of the ground,

BEGGARS 287

the child thus losing, by Turkish law, all claim to
the ground, and its value to the other owner being of
course greatly enhanced thereby. No attempt was
ever made, as far as 1 know, to bring the offenders
to justice.

If a person who is much disliked for any reason
leaves a village, at the time of his departure some-
one takes an old jar, or other earthenware vessel of
no value, and as the obnoxious individual goes out
of the place dashes it to the ground behind him,
shattering it in pieces. Two ideas underlie this,
one being that the person against whom it is
directed is as worthless as the old jar, and the other
the hope that their return will be as impossible as
the restoration of the shattered vessel.

Beggars are numerous in Palestine, and will
become more so, since the poverty of the country
as a whole is steadily increasing. I do not mean
by beggars the people who tease travellers on the
beaten tourist track for Backshish, an annoyance
for which the travellers themselves are chiefly
responsible, but those who are systematic beggars.
There are what may be called professional beggars,
who year by year put in an appearance in the chief
towns as the tourist season comes on, and of whom
a few are well off. There are many others, chiefly
from the villages, who are really very poor, or who
are from some bodily infirmity unable to work, and
have no one to support them. They may be seen,
any day almost, sitting by the wayside with out-
stretched hand (an attitude which probably suggested
to St. Paul the graphic simile in Rom. viii. 19) near

288 MISCELLANEOUS

some well-frequented shrine, or outside the gate of
a city, asking for alms. ' Alms !' they cry — ■ alms,
sir !' ' Alms, O lady !' ' May God preserve your
children !' ■ An offering ' (that is, to God) ; or,
more simply still, ' God exists,' 'God is gracious.'
Or they come round to the houses with their im-
portunate cry. They receive a great deal from the
people, chiefly in the shape of food, alms-giving
being repeatedly enjoined on Moslems in the
Koran, and being considered to win merit in the
world to come. In rich families, if a member is
sick, loaves of bread will be put round the patient's
bed, and then given to the beggars in hope that it
will be accepted as an offering to God on his behalf,
and that he will recover.

Borrowing is one of the curses of Palestine ;
almost everyone borrows, and the rate of interest is
abnormally high — this not so much because of
insufficient security as because the borrower is at
the mercy of the lender. Most men, do what they
will, have at times to borrow, chiefly because of the
changed and changing conditions of life and govern-
ment to which a people, one of the most conserva-
tive on the face of the earth, naturally is very
slow in adapting itself. As has been already men-
tioned, the Fellah may be comfortably off, well
clad, have abundance of wheat, a good store of
dried figs, lentils, barley, etc., in his bins, a flock of
goats and sheep, several yoke of oxen, a good mare
or two, and yet possess hardly any money. One
day the Government officials appear, usually with-
out warning, at his village, and he has to pay a

USURY 289

large sum down in hard cash. After scraping
together every para that he can find, and calling
in all the small local debts due to him, he is still
a large amount short. What can he do ? A
merchant from the city is there, or a Moslem
grandee, with his pockets full of dollars, and he
is willing to accommodate our Fellah ; but he
must have not only substantial security, but a good
rate of interest also — 20, 25, even 30 per cent.
(I have known 40 per cent, demanded and given
for a large loan). • What can I do ?' says the poor
man. He knows quite well that, were he to say,
4 1 can't get the money just now,' he would be
probably marched off to prison, if unable to bribe
the collector to wait ; besides which it would cost
him a great deal more to get out of prison, in
addition to his loss of time, than the interest he
must pay to the money-lender. Then, if the
harvest be a failure, or the olive crop short, and he
cannot repay the principal, the enormous interest
runs on and has to be paid year by year.

Few of the peasants are provident enough, when
they have money, to put any by for taxes or other
emergency, so when there is any sudden demand for
ready-money, the man who has it to lend can make
almost any terms he likes. Savings-banks are un-
known ; the few banks there are in the country are
all in the towns, at a considerable distance often,
and none of them will now, I believe, lend on the
security of land, and if they did, their history has
sometimes not been such as to inspire the peasantry
with confidence in them. The borrower generally

19

290 MISCELLANEOUS

gives a mortgage on his house and land, and the
lands of whole villages have sometimes been thus
acquired by one man, and at far less than their real
value.

All this applies to comparatively large trans-
actions ; where the amounts are smaller, or the
security is less, higher rates than these are charged,
especially where the loan is for a short time only.
Thus, sometimes there is a great demand for the
Turkish dollar, in which certain Government dues
have to be paid, and for the loan for a few weeks of
these coins interest at the rate of upwards of 100 per
cent, per annum is by no means unknown.

People often borrow to enable them to marry —
that is, to pay the dowry demanded by the bride's
father ; or a man will borrow to enable him to
' buy ' an eligible bride for his son. This is well
illustrated by one of their proverbs, ' He who
marries on borrowed money, his children pay the
interest,' such debts often remaining like a mill-
stone round the neck of the man and his family to
the end of his life.

The taxation of the country is a very serious
question from whichever side it is viewed. Direct
taxation is quite a modern innovation, and is a result
of the attempt, due largely to the initiation of the
late Midhat Pasha, to Europeanize the codes and
methods of the Ottoman Empire. The present
system has been gradually introduced within the
memory of some still living in Palestine, and as
now administered shows how unsuited European,
or quasi-European, methods may be to Orientals.

TAXATION 291

The taxes are numerous, and press very heavily
on the people. There is the land-tax on all but
freehold and Church property ; the sheep-tax, so
much per annum on every sheep and goat ; a road-
tax, for making roads in the province where it is
levied, although the roads are often delayed for
many years ; tithes, which are, legally, a tenth of
the crops and an eighth of the tenth, but which in
practice may be anything. In addition to these,
help is frequently asked for the Sultan, and this
impost, though in theory optional, as a matter of
fact is compulsory. All the above-mentioned taxes
are levied on Moslems and Christians alike, but in
addition to them Christians have to pay a military
tax. As a badge of servitude they have never been
allowed to bear arms, and in lieu of military service
all males have to pay a yearly poll-tax. But the
chief burden of taxation consists rather in the
manner of its collection. This is done by mounted
gendarmerie, who come to a village without warning
and stay there till they have got the amount they
want, living meanwhile at the expense of the
Fellahin. By law, whatever is supplied them or
their horses ought to be deducted from the taxes,
but, as a matter of fact, I have never heard of its
being done ; and these soldiers expect to be supplied
with the best of everything in the village.

The taxes are not assessed in most cases on the
individual villagers, but on the village as a whole.
The lands, moreover, which from time immemorial
have belonged to certain villages, are still reckoned
as belonging to them, even though much of them

19—2

292 MISCELLANEOUS

may pass, and in many instances actually has passed,
into the hands of persons belonging to other places.
A man may thus own land belonging originally to
half a dozen villages, and which in the Government
books is still entered as part of the property of those
places ; consequently, instead of paying a lump
sum to the Government for these various properties,
he has to do it through the local representatives in
each place. These representatives (Ikhtiyariyeh)
are chosen by the different houses or families, and
it is to them, with the village sheikh, that the
Government sends orders as to the amount of taxes
demanded from each village, and they have to make
the best terms they can for their people. They
have to sign or seal the formal document stating
the sums required in any year from their village,
and without their signature or seal the amount
cannot be legally demanded. Sometimes they
stand out against what they consider to be an
exorbitant demand, but there are various ways of
bringing pressure to bear upon them, and the docu-
ment is usually signed without alteration. When
this is done the amount required has to be appor-
tioned amongst the villagers. These representa-
tives wish to feather their own nests, and so they
add something for themselves to the already heavy
burden of taxation. In the apportioning also of the
various sums to be paid by different people there is
room for an immense amount of favouritism and
unfair dealing.

Sometimes the taxes, after being paid to the
Ikhtiyariyeh, are paid directly to the Government,

FARMING TAXES 293

but more often there is a middleman, who is called
a Multezzim., or farmer of taxes, who has bought
from the Government the taxes of a village for a
year for a certain fixed sum. The Multezzim
expects, of course, not only to recoup himself what
he has paid to the exchequer, but also to make a
handsome profit, and to enable him to do so, all the
power of the authorities is at his disposal should he
wish to invoke it. This, again, opens the door to
every kind of exaction, especially where, as is some-
times done, the village representatives, instead of
resisting an unjust demand on the part of a Multez-
zim, will accept a bribe from him to say nothing,
while the unhappy villagers are mulcted in a far
heavier tax than they ought legally to pay, and
have absolutely no redress. It need hardly be said
that these Multezzimin are detested by the people,
who are usually willing to pay the Government a
larger sum than they offer for the taxes, in order to
avoid their exactions.

The characteristics of the people of different
villages vary greatly. Thus, the inhabitants of
one village are notorious thieves, while the adjoining
village is well known as an industrious and honest
one. At one the inhabitants are skilled in some
trade or business, while at the next they are lazy
and ignorant. Some villages are notoriously stupid.
A story is told of one, not many miles from Jeru-
salem, that on a certain occasion not a single person
in it had any idea what day of the week it was, and
they had to send one of their number to a Christian
village some miles away to ascertain ! At another

294 MISCELLANEOUS

village, in a year of very short rainfall, only one
large cistern full of water remained to supply the
wants of the inhabitants. This they decided to
divide amongst them, and proceeded to do so by
laying sticks across the top, a place being assigned
to each family from which to draw, and the space
allotted to the sheikh of the village being twice as
wide as those for other people, on the ground that
he had to supply guests as well as the wants of his
own family !

A curious custom of partnership in mares is
widely spread. If a mare is of really good breed,
or even if only a good walker and with good
qualities, it is usually too expensive for one man to
buy the whole of it, and he will own half, a third,
two-thirds, etc., as the case may be. The man who
feeds the animal has the use of it, but the foals are
given to the respective owners in proportion to their
shares in it. Thus, if two men own a mare between
them, they will have the foals alternately ; but if one
has two-thirds and the other only a third, the former
has, of course, two out of every three foals, and the
latter only one, and so on.

I once bought half a mare from a man who pro-
fessed to own the whole, but I found after a while
that there was another partner who had a fourth
share in her. Joint ownership in a steed is con-
sidered to constitute a special link between the two
parties. ' It is,' so the man above mentioned ex-
plained to me, ' as if I had married your daughter
or you had married mine !' This quasi-relationship
(at least, where a European is concerned) is rather

HORSES' TAILS 295

a nuisance, and in my case I terminated it as soon
as I could by purchasing the rest of the shares.

The Fellahin like to let their horses' tails grow
very long, and in the case of white or gray {blue, as
the latter are called in Arabic) horses they often dye
them a bright orange colour with the leaves of the
henna tree (Lazvsonia inermis). In winter they tie
them up in a knot to keep them out of the mud.
They take it as an insult if anything be done to
the tail. I knew of a case where a man had a
beautiful long- tailed mare, which on one occasion,
while its owner was at a village on business, was
put in a stable where was another mare with a foal.
This foal during the night bit off a great part of
the visitor's tail, a not uncommon trick of foals in
Palestine, and the owner of the foal had to give the
other man a valuable present to make up for the
injury or slight thus done to him.

The native saddles are much broader than ours,
being very thickly padded, and are very uncomfort-
able for Europeans to ride. The bits are exceed-
ingly powerful, and even cruel things, but quite
unnecessarily so. The horses' mouths are no harder
than those of Europe, and in the case of horses I
have had for any time I invariably used an ordinary
English bit with curb, but always rode them on
the snaffle, and found it sufficient, except when
they tried to bolt. The stirrups are great shovel-
shaped plates of iron or brass, the corners of whicli
are used instead of spurs. The Arabs ride with
very short stirrups, retaining their seats by their
splendid balance rather than by the grip of the

5296 MISCELLANEOUS

knees. They guide their horses, too, by the pressure
of the rein on the neck of the steed, and not by the
bit. In the hot weather, especially on long journeys,
a cloth is usually tied under the horse's body over
the girths in order to keep off the flies, which are
a terrible torment at times to both horse and rider.
For the same purpose ornamental trappings of wool
are hung over the horse's neck, falling over its chest,
the numerous tassels flapping about as the animal
goes along helping to hinder the flies from alighting
on its body.

The Fellahin are very shrewd in giving nick-
names to people, seizing on some peculiarity,
characteristic, or feature. Thus I remember a
traveller who had long flowing whiskers who, in
accordance with a well-known Arabic idiom, was
promptly dubbed 'the Father of Two Beards.'

The reckoning of time is always very puzzling to
a new-comer to Palestine, there being practically
four different methods. The Jews have their
ancient reckoning, the ecclesiastical year beginning
at the Passover, in the spring, and the civil year in
the autumn. The Mohammedan year is a lunar,
and not, as ours, a solar year. It is, therefore,
twelve or thirteen days shorter than ours, and their
Moslem New Year's Day travels backward, so to
speak, that number of days every year. The
Christians, on the other hand, follow the solar
reckoning, but here again there are two different
ways of calculating the time. The Oriental Churches
follow the Eastern reckoning, better known in
England as the Old Style, and that which still

RECKONING OF TIME 297

obtains in Russia. The Roman Catholics and
Protestant bodies use the Western reckoning in
common with the greater part of the civilized
world. In all legal documents it has to be clearly
specified which reckoning is intended. The error
in calculation which has produced the difference
in the Eastern and Western times increases this
difference by a day each century. Thus, in 1900
the difference between the two amounted to twelve
days, and in 1901 to thirteen. This fact, together
with the different manner of calculating Easter,
makes a considerable difference each year in the
interval between the days on which the Eastern
and Western Churches observe the festival. Thus,
very occasionally the two coincide, but usually
there is an interval of one or more weeks between
them, and even sometimes it amounts to as much
as five weeks.

The day in the East is still considered to begin
at sunset, and in Arabic the term ' to-night ' means
what we should call 'last night.' Thus, two
friends meeting on a journey will sometimes ask
each other, ' Where did you stay to-night ?' an
expression which sounds strange to us, but is by
their reckoning the correct one.

A common way of reckoning for the repayment
of loans among the Fellahin is from harvest to
harvest, or, as they phrase it, ' from threshing-floor
to threshing-floor.' I once heard of a peasant who
borrowed a sum of money from another, which
was to be repaid in a year. They ■ wrote a paper,'
as the saying is, about it. Soon after a townsman,

298 MISCELLANEOUS

a friend of the creditor, heard of it, and, meeting
the man one day, inquired if he had taken the
precaution of stating the date at which the loan
was to be repaid, and was assured it was so. On
asking to see the document, he found that
Mohammed Abdullah promised to pay Hassan
Ahmed such-and-such a sum when next the Jak us
(a kind of cucumber) were ripe !

Another thing which is peculiarly tiying and
puzzling to a foreigner at first, and which, even
after many years' residence and a wide experience,
adds enormously to the difficulties of book-keeping,
is the complexity of the coinage. As already
mentioned, there is but little actual cash in the
country. In the towns this is to some extent
obviated by the large amount of foreign money
in circulation, especially the twenty-franc pieces
of France, Italy, Austria, Greece, etc., as well as
some of the silver currency of those countries ; but
in the villages the only foreign money which will
be accepted is the gold coinage, the small change
being Turkish only. It is well known that the
piastre is the unit by which the values of all coins
are calculated throughout the Ottoman Empire ;
but, strange as it may seem, there is now no such
coin as a piastre in existence in Syria, although the
coins are all either multiples or fractions of the
piastre. The consequence of this is that this
imaginary coin has different values in different parts
of the country ; thus, in Jerusalem the Turkish
dollar, the Mejidie — so called from having been first
coined by a former Sultan called Abd-ul-Majid

SEALS 299

(Slave of the Glorious One ) — is worth twenty-
three piastres, at Jaffa it is worth twenty-five,
but at Gaza it is equal to forty-six. Nor is this
all : the merchant has one piastre, the Government
another. In the shop, the bazaar, and in all the
commercial transactions of daily life, prices are
stated in the former, which is known as Shuruk ;
while taxes, stamps, telegrams, Government fees,
etc., are calculated in the latter, known as Sagh.
The hindrance which all this complicated system
is to commerce is better imagined than described.

In witnessing legal documents, wills, contracts,
deeds of sale, and in signing letters, a man's
signature has no value in the East : he must affix
his seal to them. This no doubt arose from the fact
that very few people could write, and that, as
to-day, most letters were written by a scribe or
professional letter -writer, consequently the fact
of a man's name being appended to a document
was no proof that he was bound by its contents ;
so seals were invented, each person having his
own seal, made of brass or silver, with his name
engraved on it, and this he carried about with him.
To give one's seal to another man to use on one's
behalf would imply unbounded confidence in him,
and would be like giving a signed blank cheque
to another in England. I have, however, occa-
sionally known this done when some important
document had to be witnessed and one of the
signatories could not be present ; the absentee
sent his seal by someone else to be affixed to the
deed. The seal is not used, as in England, with

300 MISCELLANEOUS

wax, but ink. A little of the thick native ink
is spread over the seal with the tip of the little
finger, and then allowed to become nearly dry ;
the paper at the spot where it has to be affixed
is next damped, and the seal is pressed on it, and
leaves a black disc with the inscription in white in
the centre.

The musical instruments of the Fellahin are few
and simple. The commonest is the pipe. This
consists usually of two reeds, about the thickness
of a finger, fastened side by side, with six holes in
each. In the top of these reeds two smaller ones
are inserted loosely, forming the mouth-pieces.
These are formed as follows : A thin reed is taken,
and a piece about 3j> inches long is cut off at a
joint, the upper end being closed by the joint ; the
lower and open end is trimmed to fit closely in the
upper end of one of the large ones ; then a notch is
cut about two-thirds of the length of the mouth-
piece from the top, just through the wall of the
reed, and a cut made up to the joint, thus forming
a tongue or vibrator, which remains attached at its
upper end. The second mouth-piece is exactly like
the first, and both are attached to the rest of the
pipe by strings that they may not be lost, as they
fit but loosely into the latter. To play the instru-
ment the two mouth-pieces are put in the reeds,
and then inserted in the mouth, up to the top of
the large reeds. Both are of the same pitch and
produce the same notes, the object of the second
pipe being merely to increase the volume of sound.
The different notes are produced by playing the

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 301

three fingers of each hand across the two rows of
holes. Sometimes the pipe has the second reed
much larger than the first, and without holes, the
effect being like that of the drone of the Highland
bagpipes. Occasionally other substances than
reeds are used. I once had a pipe which was made
of the leg-bones of a vulture. Another kind of
pipe is made of a single large reed, in appearance
rather like a flute, but blown from the upper end
instead of from the side.

Another musical instrument is a kind of violin.
This consists of a rectangular box made of a wooden
framework over which a skin is tightly sewn. From
the centre of one of the short sides an iron pin pro-
jects, and from the opposite one a horn or piece
of rounded wood about 20 inches long. A single
string of several strands of horsehair is fastened to
this iron pin, and, passing over a little wooden
bridge near to the lower end of the box, is secured
to a peg in the horn, the peg being used to tighten
up the string, as in our violins. The bow is formed
of a stout rough twig, with a few horsehairs
stretched tightly across. The player sits to play,
holding the instrument before him, resting it on the
ground by the pin at the lower end.

Small hand-drums made of pottery, in shape like
the neck and upper part of a large jar, are much
used on festival occasions ; animal membrane is tied
tightly over the larger end, the smaller one being
left open. It is held under the arm, being beaten
with the palm of the hand.

CHAPTER XVI

PROVERBS

No work on the Fellahin could be at all complete
which did not give some account of their proverbs.
Throughout the East the proverb or parable (in
colloquial Arabic the two are synonymous) plays a
very large part in conversation, teaching, and con-
troversy. One reason of this is that the Oriental
mind, as compared with the Western, is not a
logical one. Close-reasoned argument appeals but
little, even to educated men. With all classes, but
especially with the uneducated, an apt illustration
or an appropriate proverb will be infinitely more
convincing than the best reasoned and most logical
proof.

Our blessed Lord's frequent use of parables and
metaphor is in the fullest accord with the mental
processes and characteristics of the Gentile in-
habitants of Palestine to-day, as it was with those
of their Jewish predecessors of His own time.
Very instructive, too, is the difference in this
respect between the writings of him who, an
Oriental by birth, was by education largely a

Western, the Apostle St. Paul. In his Epistle

302

THE PROVERB 303

to the Romans, a Western race, we have closely-
reasoned argument of the very highest order ; but
in that to the Galatians, a race Oriental in its
characteristics (whatever its origin may have been),
we find little or no argument, but much illustration.

If this holds good of the East generally, it does
so very especially of the Arabic-speaking races, and
the Fellahin of Palestine are no exception. Their
language is one which lends itself peculiarly well
to terse epigrammatic expression. The wide area
over which it is spoken, and the great length of
time during which it has been in use, have also
tended to enrich it in this way. From a literary
point of view the Arabs distinguish between the
proverb (Metkal) and the aphorism (Kddthah), but
in practice all are included in the former term.

The number of Arabic proverbs is enormous, and
large volumes of them have been published. The
Fellahin have many in current use, and no incon-
siderable portion of these are peculiar to them, not
being found in any known collection. Of those
current among the peasantry I have collected some
nine hundred. No doubt a good many of these are
included in one or other of the various collections,
but a considerable portion are not found in print.
It is of the greatest value to the missionary, and,
indeed, to all who wish to be able to enter fully
into the conversation of the people, to have a good
knowledge of the more generally used proverbs and
sayings, not only as illustrating the mode of thought
of the people, but also as giving the European an
effective means of conveying teaching in a form

304 PROVERBS

readily assimilated by the Oriental. ' We have a
proverb ' or ' like the proverb ' is a frequent clincher
to a statement or proof.

It goes without saying that, as in other languages,
many a proverb is untranslatable, its whole point
turning on a play on words, an alliteration, or an
onomatopoetic term, and the like.

Archbishop Trench, in his lectures on Proverbs,
speaking of the collection of modern Arabic saws
gathered in Egypt by the traveller Burckhardt,
says that they reveal ' generally the whole character
of life, alike the outward and inward, as poor, mean,
sordid, and ignoble, with only a few faintest glimpses
of that romance which one usually attaches to the
East.' Such words, however true they may be of
the particular collection to which they are applied,
are certainly in no way applicable to those under
review now. The really bad proverbs are, as far as
my experience goes, very few ; here and there one
comes across a coarse one ; some there are which
one must class as cynical ; while yet others with
shrewd, but not unkindly, hand reveal the real
motives of a fallen nature, shared alike by Easterns
and Westerns ; many show a kindly wit, and some
are really beautiful.

Of course, not a few of these proverbs express,
with local colouring, ideas which are found in all
ages and wisdom common to all nations. Among
these the following will readily suggest parallels in
our own and other languages : ' If speech be silver,
silence is gold.' ' Rippling water will not drown
anyone.' ' One bitten (by a snake) fears a rope.'

RELIGIOUS PROVERBS 305

1 Stretch your legs according to your bed,' which
expresses the same idea as our proverb, ' Cut your
coat according to your cloth.' ' Dine and rest, sup
and walk,' of which there is a longer version, ' Dine
and rest, though but for two minutes ; sup and
walk, though but two steps.' ' Don't say " beans "
till they are in your bag ' is the equivalent of
'Don't count your chickens before they are
hatched,' the circumstance that the words in Arabic
for ' bag ' and ' beans ' rhyme with each other being
the reason for the form of this proverb. ' The eye sees
not, the heart grieves not.' ' Absent from the eye,
absent from the mind.' ' Borrowed clothes don't
last.' ' When cooks increase the food is burnt.' 'Live
in a place and eat of its onions ' (a very favourite
vegetable with the Fellahin). These, taken almost
at random, will illustrate the similarity of thought
and expression which produced the proverbs in our
own language and Arabic.

1 The head has much headache ' is a good instance
of a saying which depends for its point on a two-
fold meaning of a word, ' head ' signifying also
■ chief ' or ' sovereign,' the proverb being thus
the equivalent of our ' Uneasy lies the head that
wears a crown.'

Among a race so religiously-minded as the
Syrians, this feature is sure to be shown in their
proverbial sayings. The following specimens will
illustrate this : ' Men depend on men and all on
God.' ' There are no two together but God makes
a third.' ' An hour's blessing is worth a year's
labour.' A belief in God's care for the humblest

20

306 PROVERBS

even of His creatures declares itself in ' God breaks
the camel to give the jackal a supper.' That the
fact of man's inherent sinfulness has been grasped
we see in the following : * Two only sin not, the
dead and the unborn.'

Those who have travelled in the East, and have
suddenly come on the hideous spectacle of the
bloated carcass of a horse or camel lying by the
wayside, with vultures, ravens, and the. half-wild
dogs tearing at it, will appreciate the insight of
' The world is a carcass, and they that seek it are
dogs.' In contrast to this is a very beautiful one
on humility : ' Low-lying land drinks its own water
and that of other places.' One on patience runs:
' Patience opens the door of rest.' A very fine one
is, ' Every soul is monarch in its own body.'
Covetousness is rebuked by ' Nothing will fill (i.e.,
satisfy) the eye of man but a handful of earth (i.e.,
the grave) '; while the uncertainty of all human
things is depicted by ' The world is a wheel, one
hour for you, the next against you.' The result of
sin is forcibly shown by, ' The devil's flour turns
out all bran.'

Full of wisdom are the two following : ' The
rose left a thorn behind it, and the thorn a rose.'
* A fool threw a stone into a well ; a hundred wise
men could not get it out.' Some of the proverbs
are keenly sarcastic ; one such which is particularly
applicable in the East, where a sort of clan life is in
vogue, is, * Your relations are your scorpions,' the
point of the comparison lying in the similarity of
the words for scorpions and relatives, which differ

HOSPITALITY 307

only in the initial letters. The impossible is ex-
pressed by, ' One hand can't hold two water-melons,'
a fact self-evident to anyone who has seen those of
Palestine. An unreasonable man who seeks the
unattainable is described as 'wanting a wooden
cat which will mew and not eat.' A stupid woman
who does not see that her duty is at home is
depicted by the following : ' She left her husband
sorrowing, and went to comfort people at another
village.'

1 Between Bana and Hana our beard disappeared '
is suggested by the well-known story of the man
who had two wives, one old, the other young ; the
former pulled all the black hairs out of his beard,
the other all the gray ones, and thus between them
he was left beardless, a great misfortune to an
Oriental. Another proverb on the beard is, ' Hair
on hair makes a beard,' being the equivalent of the
Scotch one, ' Mony a little makes a mickle.'

The hospitality of the Fellahin comes out in
their proverbs ; a good instance is, ' A small house
will hold a hundred friends ' — i.e., if they be really
friends ; or, ' Trade by the dram, generosity by
the hundredweight.' ' Who sows kindness reaps
gratitude ' is unfortunately not always true, and is
counterbalanced by another, used of an ungrateful
person, which runs : ' Like the mule, you give it its
fodder, it gives you a kick.' The fact that a small
kindness often results in a greater is graphically
shown by, ' A gift goes on a donkey and returns on
a camel.' But it is only right to add that this
proverb has another side to it, and that it is a

20—2

308 PROVERBS

common practice to give a small present with the
view of bringing back a more valuable one. Another
referring to hospitality is, ' Feed the mouth, and
the eye will be ashamed ' — that is, the person will
be ashamed to do you harm.

Eastern justice (or what passes as such) is the
subject of several proverbs. Its inconsequence is
satirized in the following : ' If the tailor commits a
crime, we hang the saddler.' Someone must be
punished to save appearances, and the one who
comes handiest suffers, whether he be guilty or not.
' He who goes to the Kadi alone will come back
satisfied ' is too obvious to require explanation, and
the same applies to ' Delay weakens justice.' 'The
sheikh's child is a sheikh,' ' The prince's dog is a
prince,' ' The respect for the slave is from the
respect for his master,' are all self-evident.

In the East saddle-bags are frequently carried on
horseback, being fastened to the back of the saddle
behind the rider. In them are placed the impedi-
menta for the journey, or the things purchased in
the town. This has given rise to a proverb on
ingratitude, which is as follows : ' We let him ride
behind us, and he put his hand into the saddle-
bags ' : the one who has been given a lift repays
the kindness by using the opportunity to steal from
his benefactor. Another, suggested by the long
journeys over the rough tracks called in the Orient,
by courtesy, roads, is, 'A long road brings out
faults.'

Trade, as might be supposed, gives rise to a good
many. ' Partnership is parting ' (an instance of the

AGRICULTURAL PROVERBS 309

very few cases where an alliteration, or play on
words, can be translated) shows the bad side of
business matters. The meaning is that they who
formerly were friends, when they go into business
together, soon cease to be such, a sad comment
on the sharp practices common in those countries,
though by no means confined to them. Such
practices are illustrated by ' Selling is loss, buying
is trickery,' and rebuked by ' Greed is injury, not
gain.' ' One can't be both merchant and astro-
nomer ' is a truism. Another declares that * You
may overcome all enmity but that of your rival in
trade.' ' Don't praise the market till its close ' is
sound advice, as is ' Don't start a khan with one
donkey.'

Agriculture is another fruitful theme. The
following will show what a variety there is on
this subject. * The crooked furrow is from the
old ox.' * The diseased sheep infects the whole
flock.' * What is fallow is fallow, what is ploughed
is ploughed ' — that is, the matter is closed and the
opportunity gone. ' The reckoning of the thresh-
ing-floor does not tally with that of the field ' — used
of disappointed hopes. ' The master's eye is a
second spring.' The spring is the time when the
grass grows abundantly and animals are turned
out to graze and get into condition, so the word
has come to be used colloquially as meaning
abundant pasture ; this will make clear the idea
of the proverb. ' March milk is forbidden to
unbelievers.' This saying betrays its Mohammedan
origin ; the milk is at its best in March, and,

310 PROVERBS

therefore, with the usual Moslem intolerance, is
to be denied to those of other creeds, who are all
contemptuously classed together as unbelievers.
' When the cow falls there are many to flay her,'
• Like a camel ploughing, he treads down as fast
as he breaks up,' 'As you sow, thus you shall
reap.' ' There is dew and simoon when the olive
blossoms set,' need no explanation.

Of what may be called moral proverbs there are
many ; the following is a fine one : ' The patient
man conquered, the impatient became an un-
believer.' The adulation of the rich is ridiculed
in, ' If a rich man eat a snake, " How wise !" say
they ; if a poor man, " Oh, he is poor !" The two
following enforce the truth that circumstances will
not change a man's nature : ' The dog is a dog
though it wear a gold chain, and the Hon a lion
though brought up among dogs,' and ' The child
is a child though kadi of the town.' Idleness
meets a sharp rebuke in 'A hundred lazy men
won't build a mosque ' and ' The idle man's head
is the Devil's home,' or 'storehouse,' as another
version has it.

The proverb, « Much pulling (of the rope) cuts
the well's mouth,' is said to have originated in the
following story : A boy, once upon a time, found
the study of Arabic grammar so difficult that he
despaired of ever learning it, and finally ran away
from school. After wandering about a long time,
tired and thirsty, he sat down by a well where
Arab women were drawing water, and noticed
how, in the course of years, the soft ropes had worn

THE GRAMMARIAN Sll

deep grooves in the hard stone coping of the well.
' My comprehension,' thought he, ' is not so dense
as that stone, and grammar can surely, in time,
make more impression on it than these ropes have
made on the coping, so I will try again.' Accord-
ingly he went back to school, and (so the story runs)
ultimately became a famous Arab grammarian.

Speaking of grammarians, there is a very curious
proverb which runs as follows : ' I seek the protec-
tion of God from a Moslem who prays, a Christian
who turns grammarian, and a Jew who has grown
rich ; ' the reason of the saying is apparently that
in each case the man has become intolerably proud
and conceited. The first part of the proverb throws
a lurid light on Moslem religiousness, and well
illustrates a fact, with which anyone who has
lived much in the East is only too familiar, viz.,
that a Mohammedan who has the highest reputa-
tion for sanctity may be one of the vilest of
mankind, and that frequently the more outwardly
devout he is, the less will his every-day life bear
inspection.

The average Oriental feels responsibility but little,
especially in regard to other people's property, a
characteristic well brought out in the following:
1 Like him who lost his aunt's donkey, if he
find it he sings, and if he doesn't find it he sings.'
Poverty and riches supply many sayings, such as
the following : ■ The penniless is the king's debtor.'
* The pauper is the king's enemy.' ' Wealth which
comes in at the door unjustly goes out at the
windows.' ' The marriage of paupers only increases

312 PROVERBS

beggars.' Speaking of beggars suggests rather an
amusing proverb, used of a pupil who has eclipsed
his teacher : ' We taught him to beg, and he has
anticipated us at the doors.'

In the East, as everywhere else in the world, the
tongue is a common cause of discord and disagree-
ment, while the outdoor life, and close proximity
of the houses in the towns and villages, furnishes
unlimited facilities for gossip, with consequent
quarrels and mischief. ' Sit between two funerals
rather than between two washerwomen,' says one.
The point of this is that in the spring and autumn
a number of peasant women, after heavy rain, will
go out together into the fields or valleys, where
pools of water from the storm are to be found,
and work off their arrears of laundry work. On
such occasions, as may be well imagined, all the
scandal of the neighbourhood will be discussed.
Another proverb runs, ' The gossip of two women
will destroy two houses,' and another, 'An evil
tongue, like a shoemaker's knife, cuts only filth.'
The special force of this last saying lies in the
double meaning of the word ' cuts,' which signifies
both 'to cut' and 'to utter words.' The trade of
a shoemaker has always been rather looked down
upon in the East, and regarded as an unclean one.
For this reason, it is said, the evidence of a shoe-
maker was at one time not accepted in a court
of law.*

* A different explanation of this was once given me by an
educated Syrian, viz., that it was because shoemakers formerly
were chiefly Christians. But it is, I think, more probable
that this fact arose from the trade being considered unclean,

MISCELLANEOUS PROVERBS 313

There is much practical wisdom in the following :
'A slight concession to your enemy, and he will
grant you all you want ' ; but the next proverb
arose from a much sadder experience of life : ' An
enemy will not go but at the cost of a friend.'
Self-sacrifice is described as ' Like a candle which
lights others but consumes itself,' to which may
be added, ' He who hurts not himself does not
benefit his friend.' The desirability of having an
opinion of your own is enforced in ' Consult him
who is older than yourself and him who is younger,
and come back to your own opinion.'

Very characteristic is this proverb : ' I speak to
you, O daughter-in-law, that you may hear, O
neighbour.' A precocious child is described in
■ The clever chicken crows in the egg.' One of the
most frequently quoted proverbs is, ' Haste is from
the devil ' (and one very widely acted on !). The
ape is the Oriental ideal of ugliness, as the gazelle
is the embodiment of beauty ; hence the saying,
* The ape is, in his mother's eye, a gazelle.'

A few more miscellaneous proverbs are : ' The
dog will bark at the king.' ' The dead is the
best of his family.' ' The cat's away ; look sharp,
mouse !' ■ Search your house ten times before you
suspect your neighbour.' This last, if acted on,
would often save much trouble.

and that Christians, who were kept constantly reminded of
the inferiority of their position, were compelled to confine
themselves to what were held to be degrading occupations.
Especially would this be likely to be the case where the trade
in question carried any civil disability with it.

314 PROVERBS

Loquaciousness is not considered a virtue with
Easterns, hence the following : ' Much talk lowers
even the estimable.' Wine-shops are considered
by the abstemious Orientals as decidedly disreput-
able ; this fact gives rise to the next saying, used
to show how calumny makes a crime out of
nothing : ' He built a wine-shop out of a raisin.'

The three following proverbs, which show much
insight and knowledge, may fittingly close this
sketch of the wit and wisdom of the Fellahin:
'An hour's pain rather than pain every hour.'
1 Outside marble, inside ashes.' ' Who has made
you weep has instructed you, who has made you
laugh has ridiculed you.'

GLOSSARY

'Alim, plural 'Uletna: literally, a 'learned person/ specially one who

has studied at the Mohammedan University of El Azhar, in Cairo.

N.B. — Among the Druzes the 'Ulema are the Initiated — i.e., those

who know the inner secrets of their religion.
Belku : ' uninhabited ' or ' uncultivated.' A tract of very sparsely in-
habited country south of Es Salt, east of the Jordan.
Fellah, plural Fellahia : feminine, Felldhah, plural Fellahut : literally,

a ploughman ; the peasantry of Palestine.
Ghor : a ' hollow ' or 'depression.' The name given by the Arabs to

the valley of the Jordan and Dead Sea.
Hantfites: one of the four recognised divisions of the Sunnis or orthodox

Moslems.
Jebel: a hill or mountain. Jebel el Kuds, the hill-country round

Jerusalem. Jebel Ajlun, the modern name for the Land of Gilead,

a very hilly district.
Khattb, plural Khutabuh : a Mohammedan teacher or priest.
Koran: literally, 'reading'; the Moslem sacred book.
Neby : a prophet (specially Jewish) or his supposed tomb.
Nusrdnch, plural Xumrah ; the Moslem term for Christians ;

Nazarene.
Sheikh : literally, an ' old man/ the chief of a village or tribe.
Wely, plural Ouliah: a Moslem saint or his reputed tomb.

315

INDEX OF SCRIPTURE PASSAGES

Genesis.

CHAP. VER.

xix. 28 -

xxiii. 17 -

xxix. 1-10

xxxi. 39 -

xxxi. 40 -
xxxiii. 13, 14
xxxvii. 12-17

Exodus.

xxvii. 20 -
xxx. 24 -

Leviticus.

iii. 9 -
xxvi. 26 -

Numbers.

vi. 5 -

xvii. 8 -

xxii. 24 -

xxxvi. 1-12

Deuteronomy.

xi. 14 -

xxii. 8 -

xxii. 10 -
xxiv. 6 -
xxiv. 20 -

xxv. 4 -

Joshua.

xvii. 15, 18

Judges.

iii. 20 -

iii. 23 -

v. 30 -

xvii. 10 -

xx. 47 -

PAGE

244
191
172
172
175
168
175

226
226

175
121

42

92

234

108

193
71
198
119
231
211

222

CHAP. VER.

PAGE

ii. 7, 15-17

- 207

iii. 15 -

- 144

1 Samuel.

i. 24 -

- 96

xiii. 19 -

- 87

xv. 33 -

- 95

xvii. 34, 35 -

- 182

xvii. 40 -

- 183

xxiv. 3 -

- 176

xxv. 3 - -

• 92

2 Samuel.

vii. 27 -

- 94

xx. 9 -

- 273

1 Kings.

xi. 38 -

- 94

xix. 5 -

- 128

xix. 18 -

- 52

xix. 19 -

- 199

2 Kings.

iii. 11 -

- 127

iv. 10 -

- 61

v. 19 -

- 269

viii. 15 -

- 139

2 Chronicles.

xxii. 9 -

- 92

Nehemiah.

iv. 3

Job.

61

xxiv.

20 -

68

xxvii.

18 -

130

xxx.

4 -

180

xxxi

26, 27

176

xxxi.

27 -

234

218
218
122
52
273

316

INDEX OF SCRIFrURE PASSAGES

317

1'sAI.MS.

CHAP. VfR.

PAOE

i. 4

-

-

- 209

xxiii. 2

-

.

- 173

1. 21

-

-

- 13

cxxviii. 3

-

-

- 227

cxxxiii. 3

-

-

- 241

Pro 1

'EBBS.

xxvii. 25

.

- 203

xxviii. 3

-

-

- 197

Eoclk

SIASTBS.

ii. 4

-

-

• 117

Canticles.

i. 7

.

-

- 173

iv. 16

-

-

- 233

v. 4

-

-

- 68

Isaiah.

xvii. 18

.

.

- 209

xxii. 13

-

-

- 70

xxvii. 12

-

-

- 231

xxxiii. 12

-

-

- 244

xxxviii. 12

-

-

- 176

xli. 15

-

-

- 210

xli. 25

-

-

- 252

xlix. 10

-

.

- 230

li. 1

-

-

- 247

Jeremiah.

xii. 10,

11

-

- 179

xviii. 3

-

-

- 252

xxiv. 2

-

-

- 239

xxxii. 43,

44

-

- 163

xli. 17

-

-

- 277

Lamen

TATIONS.

ii. 6

iv.

12 -

xvii.

10 -

xxxiv.

29 -

ix

. 10 -

xii

. 11 -

xiii

.3 -

xiii

. 15 -

xiv

. 5 -

EzEKIEL.

HOSEA.

Jonah.

CHAP. VER.

iv. 5, 6
iv. 8 -

Amos.

ix. 9

218

120
230
174

239
198
241
230
241

122

MlCAH.

vii. 14 -

Zechariah.

X. 1 -

St. Matthew.
x. 9 -
x. 27 -
xvii. 24-27
xxi. 17-19 -
xxi. 33 -
xxiv. 17 -
xxiv. 18 -
xxiv. 41 -
xxv. 1-13
xxvi. 48, 49 -
xxvii. 7 -

St. Mark.
vi. 39 -
xi. 13 -

St. Luke.

ii. 7 -

ii. 8 -

iii. 22, 23 -

v. 19 -

vi. 38 -

xi. 44 -

xii. 18 -

xiii. 6 -

xiv. 19 -

xxii. 31 -

St. John.
vi. 9 -
x. 3 -
x. 4, 5

Acts.

iii. 6 - -
xviii. 1-3

Romans.

viii. 19 -

1 Corinthians.

ix. 7 -

ix. 9 - - -
Revelation.
xviii. 22 -

218

230

- 174
1<)7, 194

18, 140

- 7<>

- 20

- 124

- 234

- 71

- 201

- 119

- Ill

- 272

- 158

- 220

- 239

- 89

- 177

- 38

- 71

- 212

- 158

- 137

- 238

- 195
122

127, 253

- 165
104, 166

- 20

- 259

- 287

- 181

- 211

117

INDEX

A.

'Afir, 195
Agriculture, 188
'Alim, 16
'Aliyeh, 61
Armenian Church, 37

time of celebration of
Christmas, 38

B.

Baptism in Greek Church, 42

Baraghafeh, 78

Barter, 76

Baskets, 254

Bedding, 139

Beggars, 287

Bethlehem, 177

Betrothal, 109

Blacksmiths, 87

Blindness, 150

Blue eyes, supposed power of, 49

Booths, 218

Borrowing, 288

Breadmaking, 119

Buffaloes, 184

Building-stone, varieties of, 62

Burghal, 125

Burial, 157

Butter, 132

C.

Camels, 184

vindictiveness of, 185
Carpenters, 244
Catholic brandies of Eastern

Churches, 38
Cattle, 183

-stealers, 285

-markets, 77
Charcoal, 248
Charms, 50

Cheese, 132

Cholera, 151

Chrism, the, 42

Christmas, date of Armenian, 38

Churclies, Greek, 43

consecration of, 43
Cisterns, 72
Climate, 192
Coffee, 279
Conscription, 83
Contrast between old and new

order of things, 8
Convent of the Cross, 44
Cooking, 125
Corn-bins, 136
Corn, cleaning, 122
measuring, 212
Crops, 213
Currency, 298
Customs, funeral, 156
Cutting down fruit-trees, 28(5

D.

Dances, 113
Days, ' borrowed,' 195
Dervishes, 16
Dew, 241
Dialects, 5, 85
Dibs, 236
Diseases, 147
Divorce, 105
Dogs, 180
Domed roofs, 63
Dowry, 109
Dress, 139

of Greek priests, 41

of women, 143
Druzes, 32

belief, 34

initiated and unitiated, 33
Duffur, 239

318

INDEX

319

E.

Easter, 45

eggs, 46
Education, 99
Eggs, coloured, at Moslem feast,

47
Evil eye, the, 48

charms against, 49

P.

' Far be it from you,' 104
Fasts, Greek, 47
Fate, 29
Fellahin, 188

low idea of God, 13

meaning of name, 188

origin, 3

religious, 12

reticence about customs, 7
Fields, 163

Fig-trees of the road, 239
Figs, 238

dried, 240
Firewood, bringing, 128
Fish, dried, 253
Fishing, 252
Floods, 196
Forests, 222
Fox, cunning of, 257
Funeral customs, 156

G.

Gambling, 98

Games, 97

Gardens, watered, 220

Gleaning, 207

Goats and sheep, separating, 181

' Go in peace,' 269

Grafting, 228

Greek Church, 37

Grinding corn, 117

Guest-bouses, 277

Gunpowder, 247

Gipsies, 86

H.

Handmills, 118
Hand of Might, the, 49
Harvest, 205

Head-dress, women's, 144
Hellenic ecclesiastics, 39
Holy Fire, ceremony of, 45
Houses, description of, 59

Housetops, 71, 68
Hunting, 256

I.

Idiots, 155

Ikhtiyariyah, 81

Imam, Ali, the fourth, 13, note

Imams, village, 14

Improvisors, 88

Innovations, 8

Interest, high rate of, 289

Irrigation, 203

Islam, 12, note

sects of, 13, note

J.

Jars, 137
Jebel Ajlun, 164
el Kuds, 149
Jewellery, 130, 253
Justice, 283

K.

Kes and Yemen, 77

Khalweh, Druze place of worship,

33
Khans, 277
Kids and lambs, 182
Kissing, 273
Koran, the, 12
Kusah, 274

L.

Land, tenure of, 189

Language spoken by our Lord,

101
Lawful and unlawful actions, 54
Leaven, 119
Leben, 132
Leprosy, 152
Life, family, 102
Lime, burning, 243
Locks, wooden, 67
Locusts, 223
Looms, 260

M.

Marketing, 134

Maronites, 37

Mares, partnership in, 294

Marriage, 107

Mar Saba, monastery of, 44

Mats, 138, 254

Meals, 124

evening, 126, 279

320

INDEX

Merit, doctrine of, 31, 32
Met'awali, 13, note
Midhat Pasha, 4
Milestones, Roman, 262
Mills, 231

water, 249
' Minaret/ meaning of word, 21,

note
' Modern Canaanites,' 3
Monasteries, Greek, 44
Money, various kinds of, 208
Moslem, meaning of the term, 12
Moslems, attitude towards Chris-
tians, 36

low idea of God, 13

reverence for the Old Testa-
ment, 12

saints, 12
Mosques, 21
Mothers-in-law, 116
Mukhtars, 82
Murders, 284
Musical instruments, 300
Muzzling, 211

N.

Names, 93

Naming a child, 91

Native industries dying out, 5

Neby Miisa, feast of, 24

shrine of, 29
Neighbours, 275
Needlework, 129
Noah, tomb of, 26

O.

Oil, olive, 231
Oil-mills, 231
Oil-presses, 232
Olives, 226
Oranges, 240
Ovens, 1 20

P.

Parapets, 71
Pedlars, 77
Ploughing, 195, 198
ox and ass, 198
Ploughs, 201
Polygamy, 104
Pottery, 251
Prayer, 55

Priests, village, 40

dress of, 41

long hair of, 42

salaries of, 40
Protestants, 39
Proverbs, 302

R.

Rainfall, 194

Rains, former and latter, 193
Raisins, 236

Ramadthan, month of fasting, 22
Ready-money, scarcity of, 19
Reaping, 205
Religions, 12

Religiousness of Fellahin, 10
Roads, 262
Robbers, 169
Roofs, 65
flat, 69

S.

Sahrah, or watching, 83
Sakiveh, 221
Salutations, 11, 263
Scrip, 183
Seals, 299
Sects, Moslem, 13
Seventy, the, mission of, illus-
trated, 19
Shaduf, 221

Shazeliyeh, a Moslem sect, 13
Sheep-dogs, 180
Sheep, fat-tailed, 133, 175

feeding of, 174

-folds, 176

resting, 173

straying, 171

watering of, 172
Sheikh, 80
Shepherds, 161

tents, 164

wages, 180

weapons, 182
Sherif, 141
Shoemakers, 256
Shoes, 142
Shops, 73
Sirocco, 192, 229
Slings, 98
Smoking, 127
Spinning, 257
Snow, 177
Spirits, belief in, 53

INDEX

3S21

Spoil, 162

Sponsors, 93

Springs, 218

Staircases, outside, 71

Sunnis, or orthodox Moslems, 13

Superstitions, 47

Swaddling-clothes, 89

T.

Tattooing, 115

Taxation, 6, 290

Taxes, farming of, 293

Temple flocks, 176

Tent-making, 259

Tents, shepherds', 164, 258

Terraces, 199

Threshing-floors, 207

Tibn, 209

Tiling, 72

Time, reckoning of, 296

Tobacco, 215

Tombs, 157

Treasure, buried, 256

U.

Uniat Churches, 38, note
Unlucky events, 51
Upper rooms, 61
Usury, 209

V.

Vaccination, 14!)
Villages, sights of, 57
Vines, 232
Vineyards, 233

path through, 234

towers in, 234

W.

Wages, shepherds', 180

Washing, 123

Water, drawing of, 128

Water-mills, 249

Watch-towers in vineyards, 234

Weapons, shepherds', 182

Weavers, 5

Weaving, 260

Wedding ceremony, Moslem, 112
customs, 113
processions, 111

Weddings, 110

superstitions about, 115

Wely, Moslem saint, 25
Fellahin dread of, 27
intercession of, 26, 29
pillars in honour of, 28

Winnowing, 209

Wolves, 166

Women, degradation of, 103

THE END

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